amusing

English

Etymology

By surface analysis, amuse +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈmjuːzɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

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Verb

amusing

1. present participle and gerund of amuse

Adjective

amusing (comparative more amusing, superlative most amusing)

1. Entertaining.

   The film has some amusing moments, but it is unlikely to make you laugh out loud.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’

   • 2012 December 21, George Monbiot, “Your gift at Christmas will soon be junk”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 188, number 2, page 24:

     They seem amusing on the first day of Christmas, daft on the second, embarrassing on the third. By the twelfth they're in landfill. For 30 seconds of dubious entertainment, or a hedonic stimulus that lasts no longer than a nicotine hit, we commission the use of materials whose impacts will ramify for generations.

2. Funny, hilarious.
   • 1952 December, 'Mercury', “Modern French Locomotive Performance”, in Railway Magazine, pages 808-809:

     An amusing incident on the first of these journeys was the checking by signal of the flyer about 3 miles out of Paris, with the result that it was overhauled by the 6.25 p.m. semi-fast from Paris to Montargis, to the unconcealed delight of passengers in the latter.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:funny
• See also Thesaurus:witty

Antonyms

• unamusing

Derived terms

• amusingly
• amusingness
• semiamusing

 

Translations

entertaining

Afrikaans: genotvol Arabic: مُمْتِع (mumtiʕ) Bulgarian: заба́вен (bg) (zabáven), развлека́телен (razvlekátelen) Catalan: divertit (ca), entretingut (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 有趣 (zh) (yǒuqù), 好玩 (zh) (hǎowán), 可笑 (zh) (kěxiào) Esperanto: amuza Finnish: huvittava (fi) French: amusant (fr), divertissant (fr) Galician: divertido, entretido Georgian: თავშესაქცევი (tavšesakcevi), გასართობი (gasartobi) German: amüsant (de), vergnüglich (de), lustig (de) Hungarian: szórakoztató (hu) Italian: divertente (it), esilarante (it), ilare (it) Japanese: 面白い (ja) (おもしろい, omoshiroi), 可笑しい (ja) (おかしい, okashii) Portuguese: divertido (pt) Russian: заба́вный (ru) (zabávnyj), заня́тный (ru) (zanjátnyj), развлека́тельный (ru) (razvlekátelʹnyj) Sorbian: Upper Sorbian: zabawny Spanish: divertido (es), entretenido (es), desopilante (es) Swedish: underhållande (sv)

funny

Afrikaans: snaaks (af) Belarusian: сме́шны (smjéšny), заба́ўны (zabáŭny), паце́шны (pacjéšny) Bulgarian: сме́шен (bg) (sméšen), заба́вен (bg) (zabáven) Esperanto: amuza Finnish: hupaisa (fi) French: amusant (fr), drôle (fr) Galician: gracioso (gl), chistoso Georgian: სასაცილო (sasacilo) Hungarian: mulatságos (hu), jópofa (hu), vicces (hu) Irish: greannmhar Latin: rīdiculus (la) Latvian: jocīgs, smieklīgs Old English: hleahtorbære Plautdietsch: sposich Polish: zabawny (pl), śmieszny (pl) Portuguese: engraçado (pt) Russian: заба́вный (ru) (zabávnyj), поте́шный (ru) (potéšnyj), смешно́й (ru) (smešnój) Scottish Gaelic: èibhinn, àbhachdach Spanish: gracioso (es) Ukrainian: заба́вний (zabávnyj), поті́шний (potíšnyj), смішни́й (smišnýj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: (please verify) amusante

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