MEANING
1. Strong romantic attraction that may be short-lived and make clear judgment difficult.
2. An intense, uncritical interest in an idea, activity, or thing that may not last.
Use it for
showing attraction that outruns knowledge of another person; distinguishing idealization from established intimacy; describing a feeling that overwhelms cautious judgmentDistinguishes intense, idealizing attraction from durable love and from a broader short-lived enthusiasm. Writing functions: Psychological States.
Words that belong together
- an adolescent infatuation
- an infatuation with someone
- a passing infatuation
On the page
Her infatuation survived every awkward silence because she supplied the missing conversation herself.
He mistook the intensity of his infatuation for evidence that he knew her.
The firm’s infatuation with novelty left no one responsible for maintaining the old systems.
His infatuation with the theory faded when he tried to use it on a less convenient example.
Word forms
- Base
- infatuation
Usage notes
Countable or uncountable: infatuation; plural infatuations. Infatuation with a person, idea, or fashion. Not necessarily mutual. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.