as in to entertain
to cause (someone) to pass the time agreeably occupied
the older girl amused her four-year-old sister at the family reunion by showing her off to all the relatives
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Recent Examples of amuse
This restaurant is open only Thursday-Saturday, serves a maximum of 18 diners, as a result, strictly requires reservations and offers a boat ride first with a saffron tea and amuse bouche service onboard.
—
Laurie Werner, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Lalay, a 15-foot crocodile, was not amused and spent half an hour thrashing around with the man’s leg clenched in her teeth, until the park owner clocked her over the head with a block of concrete to get her to let go.
—Kassondra Cloos, Outside, 10 Sep. 2025
Garfield was visibly amused and turned in his seat, physically and metaphorically giving his costars the floor to answer, while Roberts and Edebiri gave Polidoro confused glances.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Sep. 2025
Powerful real estate developer Frank (Tracy Letts) looks at Lee like a pesky bug that keeps flitting about, yet he’s also amused by his antics.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for amuse
Laurie Werner, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Lalay, a 15-foot crocodile, was not amused and spent half an hour thrashing around with the man’s leg clenched in her teeth, until the park owner clocked her over the head with a block of concrete to get her to let go.
—Kassondra Cloos, Outside, 10 Sep. 2025
Garfield was visibly amused and turned in his seat, physically and metaphorically giving his costars the floor to answer, while Roberts and Edebiri gave Polidoro confused glances.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Sep. 2025
Powerful real estate developer Frank (Tracy Letts) looks at Lee like a pesky bug that keeps flitting about, yet he’s also amused by his antics.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for amuse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for amuse
Verb
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The Scottish actor, best known for his role as the dashing Jamie Fraser on Starz’s Outlander, showcases his love of storytelling and entertaining with drinks that balance heritage and modern tastes in his new spirits guide The Cocktail Diaries.—
Sonal Dutt,
PEOPLE,
24 Sep. 2025
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During these years, as activists and scholars were trying to change the narrative about the role trauma plays in domestic killings, true crime was entertaining the public with them.—
John J. Lennon
September 24,
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Like his Washington, Bargatze’s Farnsworth regaled a trio of underlings (SNL cast members Bowen Yang, Mikey Day, and James Austin Johnson) with ridiculous yet accurate predictions for the future, in this case of TV.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
15 Sep. 2025
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Her mother, an enslaved woman whose name is lost to history, had been a storyteller, too, regaling the girl with folktales on the Maryland plantation where she was born in the mid-nineteenth century.—
April White,
JSTOR Daily,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Amuse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/amuse. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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