TEMPTING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tempting mean? 

• TEMPTING (adjective)
  The adjective TEMPTING has 2 senses:

1. highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire

2. very pleasantly inviting

  Familiarity information: TEMPTING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TEMPTING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire

Synonyms:

alluring; beguiling; enticing; tempting

Context example:

a tempting invitation

Similar:

seductive (tending to entice into a desired action or state)

Derivation:

temptingness (the power to entice or attract through personal charm)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Very pleasantly inviting

Synonyms:

tantalising; tantalizing; tempting

Context example:

a tempting repast

Similar:

inviting (attractive and tempting)

 Context examples 

I could not imagine why Dora had been making tempting little faces at me, as if she wanted to kiss me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

To herself, individually, it was most tempting.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Think twice before you reach for that tempting treat.

(Can Chocolate Really Be Good for You?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Those that do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by tempting them with his food.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I therefore spent some days in the East End, devised an Arctic expedition, put forth tempting terms for harpooners who would serve under Captain Basil—and behold the result!

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So she went by herself into her chamber, and got ready a poisoned apple: the outside looked very rosy and tempting, but whoever tasted it was sure to die.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A large portion of a region called Arcadia Planitia is the most tempting target in the northern hemisphere.

(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)

If Jemima were not the trustiest, steadiest creature in the world, it would be enough to spoil her; for she tells me, they are always tempting her to take a walk with them.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Besides, a taste for flowers is always desirable in your sex, as a means of getting you out of doors, and tempting you to more frequent exercise than you would otherwise take.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The parlor was always bright and attractive, the chessboard ready, the piano in tune, plenty of gay gossip, and a nice little supper set forth in tempting style.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)