as in interesting
holding the attention or provoking interest
a riveting explanation of light waves that fascinated the class
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in focusing
to fix (as one's attention) steadily toward a central objective
everyone riveted their eyes on the trick that the magician was performing on stage
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of riveting
Marcia Dunn, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2026
Now, three books in, Rainey remains my alter ego, a riveting car-crash girl who keeps me up thinking at night.
—Literary Hub, 3 Apr. 2026
Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2026
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone wondering how to make each hour in their workday riveting for television viewers.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for riveting
Adjective
In an especially riveting retro throwback, Artemis II shattered the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
—Marcia Dunn, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2026
Now, three books in, Rainey remains my alter ego, a riveting car-crash girl who keeps me up thinking at night.
—Literary Hub, 3 Apr. 2026
Verb
Pomona native and Cal Poly grad who flew Navy F-18s successfully launches as pilot of NASA’s riveting Artemis II mission around the moon, the first such voyage since the Apollo program in 1972.
—Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2026
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone wondering how to make each hour in their workday riveting for television viewers.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for riveting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for riveting
Adjective
-
Ruby Mace The most interesting outsider.—
Megan Feringa,
New York Times,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Saturday’s 11th inning featured an interesting debate.—
LaMond Pope,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
Verb
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One of the ways Wilkins hoped to get there was getting out of the wet Oregon weather and focusing solely on training in the year leading up to the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.—
Scott M. Reid,
Oc Register,
17 Apr. 2026
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This is a first step, focusing on modeling a launch abort sequence with an Ariane 6 rocket, with a particular emphasis on pad abort scenarios.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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His story is just one intriguing twist in a draft class filled with overachievers.—
Michael Marot,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
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Charlotte also added two intriguing newcomers in Western Carolina/Pittsburgh transfer Cole Gonzales and true freshman Jaylen White, both of whom have impressed the coaching staff during spring practice.—
Hunter Bailey,
Charlotte Observer,
20 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Cole found that he was still traumatized by the abuse and had a hard time concentrating.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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The strategy spreads tourism spending across neighborhoods instead of concentrating it near match venues.—
Amalia Roy,
FOXNews.com,
17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Bloomberg Weekend discusses big ideas and open questions in the fascinating places where finance, life and culture meet.—
Austin Carr,
Bloomberg,
21 Apr. 2026
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Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.—
Avni Trivedi,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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In a video, students at Haverford High School and colleagues described Smith as passionate, caring, charismatic and engaging.—
Kelsie Hoffman,
CBS News,
21 Apr. 2026
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The subject of this engaging biography is the eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who is often ridiculed as a faulty precursor to Darwin.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
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These blue-absorbing pigments can sometimes cause people to see a red dot called Maxwell’s spot in the center of their vision.—
Nora Bradford,
Scientific American,
23 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Riveting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riveting. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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