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
Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 5 June 2026
And with his Tigers scuffling and the whole sport closely monitoring Skubal’s progress, this uncharted territory is equal parts riveting and consequential.
—Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 26 May 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
Scorsese cast frequent collaborator Robert De Niro as Max in 1991's Cape Fear, resulting in one of the actor's most riveting (and unsettling) performances.
—Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 5 June 2026
And with his Tigers scuffling and the whole sport closely monitoring Skubal’s progress, this uncharted territory is equal parts riveting and consequential.
—Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 26 May 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
-
Nickal is an interesting figure, having come to UFC after winning three NCAA wrestling championships.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
15 June 2026
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Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images The main card event promises to be an interesting fight.—
Kathryn Watson,
CBS News,
14 June 2026
Verb
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Instead of focusing on what the program offers, focus on what leaders are actually dealing with.—
Lavinia Mehedintu,
Big Think,
11 Dec. 2025
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Daniella Silva Daniella Silva is a national reporter for NBC News, focusing on immigration and education.—
Nicole Acevedo,
NBC news,
11 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
The back end of this position group is also intriguing.—
Alec Lewis,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
-
If Pearce attends mandatory minicamp, his integration into the locker room, as well as his involvement in the team’s practices, will be particularly intriguing as Stefanski tries setting his culture.—
Daniel Flick,
AJC.com,
15 June 2026
Verb
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Reyna’s goal was a perfect example of Pochettino’s insistence of concentrating on the team over individuals.—
James Robson,
Chicago Tribune,
13 June 2026
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This suggests that the act of concentrating mattered more than what students were concentrating on.—
Supreet Kaur,
Scientific American,
10 June 2026
Adjective
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What is happening currently in biology and medicine—with biomedical research accelerating the understanding of disease and developing new drugs—is fascinating and will revolutionize the approach to human health.—
Rachel Nuwer,
Scientific American,
16 June 2026
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This is such an incredible intersection between this world of male models and cult, the idea that Hoyt was living this double life between these two worlds seemed really fascinating to me.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
16 June 2026
Adjective
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Beyond his cachet, which reportedly attracted other suitors like the Toronto Maple Leafs, the 61-year-old Laviolette has long employed a forward-thinking, engaging and offensively aggressive style.—
Andrew Knoll,
Daily News,
11 June 2026
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Storytelling transforms information into engaging narratives, capturing attention where algorithms reward human connection.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
7 June 2026
Adjective
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Our editors and critics choose the most captivating, notable, brilliant, surprising, absorbing, weird, thought-provoking, and talked-about books.—
Namara Smith,
New Yorker,
10 June 2026
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Those sorts of unexpected shifts are what make Vile’s brand of self-absorption so uniquely absorbing after all these years, even as Philadelphia leans into his familiar formula of ’70s-Neil ditch-digging filtered through ’80s-Springsteen production and stretched across ’90s-CD sprawl.—
Stuart Berman,
Pitchfork,
4 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Riveting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riveting. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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