beguiling

adjective

be·​guil·​ing bi-ˈgī-liŋ 

bē-

: agreeably or charmingly attractive or pleasing

a beguiling manner

a beguiling aroma

… it's safe to say that the Balkans have never produced a politician so beguiling.

—Jane Kramer

beguilingly adverb

The restaurant is physically attractive, dishes are beguilingly presented, and the cuisine is always logically inventive, often inspired, sometimes sublime.

—Jay Jacobs

Synonyms

• artful
• cagey
• cagy
• crafty
• cunning
• cute
• designing
• devious
• dodgy [chiefly British]
• foxy
• guileful
• scheming
• shrewd
• slick
• sly
• subtle
• tricky
• wily

Examples of beguiling in a Sentence

a smart and beguiling child who can manipulate her parents with alarming ease

the beguiling allure of a life of crime

Recent Examples on the Web

Horn’s mysterious, beguiling work is considered essential in Germany, the country where she was based. —Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 8 Sep. 2024

On the Space One Pro, this track was utterly beguiling. —Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 5 Sep. 2024

The movie is infused with enough of Burton’s beguiling gothic vibe to kick off the Halloween season, but the plot holes are large enough for the Great Pumpkin to fill. —Troy Aidan Sambajon, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Sep. 2024

Those bold choices are typical of Guadagnino’s sure hand throughout this strange, beguiling film, fueled by tenderness, loneliness, lust and swooning unrequited love. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above