attraction - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

English attraction

From Middle English attraccioun, from Old French attraction, from Latin attractio from past participle of attrahō (= ad + trahō), equivalent to attract +‎ -ion.

attraction (countable and uncountable, plural attractions)

  1. The tendency to attract.
    The Moon is held in its orbit by the attraction of the Earth's gravity.
    Synonym: pull
    Antonym: repellency
    1. The state of being attractive.
      I can't resist his attraction.
      Synonyms: charisma, charm, pull
      Antonyms: creepiness, repulsiveness
    2. (countable) An event, location, or business that has a tendency to draw interest from visitors, and in many cases, local residents.
      The new mall should be a major attraction.
      Star Tours is a very cool Disney World attraction.
      Synonym: feature
      Antonym: blight
    3. (chess) The sacrifice of pieces in order to expose the enemy king.
  2. (uncountable) The feeling of being attracted (to something), that is, being drawn toward it; a desire to be near or involved (in something).
    I kept returning there because I felt a strange attraction towards the place.
    Our attraction to sugar makes it hard to stop eating it.
    Antonyms: repellency, repulsion
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.
    1. (in particular, countable or uncountable) Sexual or romantic desire (especially for a usually specified individual, kind of person, etc).
      I've always had an attraction to blondes.
      I don't think my husband has ever acted on any of his attractions.
      Synonym: desire
      • 2015 January 23, John Davis, Jennifer A. Greenhill, Jason D. LaFountain, A Companion to American Art, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 255:
        Murphy struggled with his attraction to men while remaining happily married all his life, daily negotiating the challenges of living in two locations simultaneously. These doublings of desire and emotional attachment left their trace in the multiple doublings within […] the billboard painting he made to signpost the home he created with his wife Sara […]
      • 2024 October 20, Kate, A Love Unspoken, DeepMisti Publication, →ISBN, page 98:
        "I'm asexual," Yazhiisai said, the words spilling out faster than she intended. "I don't experience attraction the way most people do. I'm telling you this because I don't want there to be any surprises."
  3. (linguistics) An error in language production that incorrectly extends a feature from one word in a sentence to another, e.g. when a verb agrees with a noun other than its subject.

tendency to attract

feeling of being attracted

something which attracts

chess: sacrifice to expose the enemy king

From Old French attraction, from Latin attractiōnem.

attraction f (plural attractions)

  1. attraction (all senses)