amused

a·muse

(ə-myo͞oz′)

tr.v. a·mused, a·mus·ing, a·mus·es

1. To hold the attention of or occupy in an agreeable fashion:

amused myself with a puzzle.

2. To cause to laugh or smile by being funny:

amused the crowd with jokes.

3. Archaic To delude or deceive.

[From Middle French

amuser

, from Old French, to fill with vain hopes, deceive :

a-

, to (from Latin

ad-

; see ad-) +

muser

, to stare stupidly; see muse.]

a·mus′a·ble adj.

a·mus′er n.

Synonyms: amuse, entertain, divert, regale
These verbs refer to activities that provide pleasure or enjoyment. Amuse can suggest the idle pleasure derived from a pastime: I amused myself with a game of solitaire. It can also suggest the enjoyment of something humorous or laughable: The antics of the little dog amused the children. Entertain often implies a pleasure actively pursued by the imagination or through play: entertained herself with thoughts of what the weekend would bring; children entertaining themselves with games and puppets. It also refers to the enjoyment derived from artistic performance: has been entertaining audiences with his stories and music for many years. Divert implies distraction from worry, boredom, or low spirits: “I had neither Friends or Books to divert me” (Richard Steele).
To regale is to entertain with something that causes great mirth: “He loved to regale his friends with tales about the many memorable characters he had known as a newspaperman” (David Rosenzweig).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.