What does entertain mean?
Entertain is a versatile English verb with three main senses. Most commonly it means to provide amusement or pleasure — a film, performer, or witty host may entertain an audience or a group of guests. Closely related is the social sense of receiving visitors and offering them hospitality, as when someone enjoys entertaining at weekends. A third, more formal sense means to consider, harbor, or give serious attention to something abstract, such as entertaining doubts, hopes, or a proposal; in this usage the verb signals open-mindedness or its absence, as in 'she refused to entertain the notion.' The word derives from Old French entretenir, from Latin inter- plus tenere, literally 'to hold among' or 'maintain,' which explains both its older sense of keeping someone's attention and its modern figurative use of holding an idea in mind. Its derivatives — entertainment, entertainer, and entertaining — rank among the most familiar words in discussions of leisure and media.
To amuse or divert someone; to provide enjoyment through performance, conversation, or activity.
"The street musicians entertained passersby all afternoon."
This is the dominant everyday sense.
To receive people as guests and provide food, drink, and hospitality.
"They enjoy entertaining colleagues at their home."
To give consideration to; to harbor or maintain (a thought, feeling, or proposal).
"He began to entertain serious reservations about the plan."
Formal register; typically takes abstract objects like doubts, hopes, notions, or offers.
When you entertain an idea, you are literally 'holding it between' yourself and your mind — the same Latin root that gives us tenant, someone who holds property.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of entertain
Entertain comes from Old French entretenir, formed from entre- ('between') plus tenir ('to hold'), ultimately from Latin tenere. It entered English in the late Middle Ages, first carrying the senses of maintaining, supporting, or keeping someone occupied, before developing its modern meanings of providing amusement and offering hospitality. It shares its Latin root with words such as tenant, contain, retain, and tenacious, all of which involve the idea of holding or holding onto something.
Related word forms
How entertain is actually used
In formal contexts, 'entertain' frequently appears with abstract objects such as ideas, doubts, hopes, or suspicions, meaning to consider or hold them seriously. This figurative use is common in journalism and official language ('the committee would not entertain the motion'). The hospitality sense often appears in phrases like 'fond of entertaining.'