allurement

English

Etymology

From allure +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈlʊɚmənt/, /əˈlɚmənt/

• Audio (General American, 3-syllable):

  (file)

Noun

allurement (countable and uncountable, plural allurements)

1. Attractiveness; appeal, charisma. [from 16th c.]
   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.

2. An enticement, inducement or bait. [from 16th c.]
   • 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury:

     That though their Thoughts are ever turn'd upon appearing Aimiable, yet every Feature of their Faces and every Part of their Dress is fill'd with Snares and Allurements.

   • 2008, Philip Roth, Indignation:

     The sheer unimaginableness of coming into her mouth — of coming into anything other than the air or a tissue or a dirty sock — was an allurement too stupendous for a novice to forswear.

Translations

attractiveness, appeal, charisma

• Esperanto: allogado

enticement or inducement

• Greek:

  Ancient: δελεασμός m (deleasmós)