Definition of "tantalize" [tan•ta•lize]

• To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Many words come from Greek roots, but the roots for "tantalize" run all the way to Greek myth about a misbehaving son of Zeus named Tantalus."
• "Let's thwart those blood-thirsty savages, who, in the name of Islam, target innocents and tantalize the taliban-bashers."
• "ECLIPSE can pounce on you like a ravenous jaguar, cloud your judgment like a dense fog, or tantalize your senses with kaleidoscopic color-tones."