tantalize
verb
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Pity poor King Tantalus of Lydia. The mythic monarch offended the ancient Greek gods. As punishment, according to Homer's Odyssey, he was plunged up to his chin in water in Hades, where he had to stand beneath overhanging boughs of a tree heavily laden with ripe, juicy fruit. But though he was always hungry and thirsty, Tantalus could neither drink the water nor eat the fruit. Anytime he moved to get them, they would retreat from his reach. Our word tantalize is taken from the name of the eternally tormented king.
Examples of tantalize in a Sentence
Chris Velazco, Washington Post, 4 July 2024
The two youngsters have been widely tipped to provide tennis’ next great rivalry and the thought of them meeting in the semifinals again is already a tantalizing prospect.
—Matias Grez, CNN, 30 June 2024
There are also tantalizing hints of links to other, similar illusions: the Kappa effect, for instance, which uses a similar setup to the visual saltation illusion but displaces the flashes in time rather than space.
—Tom Hawking, Popular Science, 27 June 2024
To these audiences, double entendre and the tantalizing unseen were more important to the performance than nudity.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 26 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for tantalize 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tantalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Tantalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tantalize. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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tantalize
verb
from Greek Tantalus, name of a king in mythology
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