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

With a stunning pool and countless tiered terraces, there are countless perches for taking in Cappadocia’s beguiling, otherworldly beauty. —Elizabeth Brownfield, Forbes, 30 Dec. 2024

One potential litigant is director David Lee Fisher, who decided to reuse the beguiling backdrops of the original by way of green screens, then hire actors whose every line reading makes the invention of the talkie seem like a mistake. —Elle Carroll, Vulture, 24 Dec. 2024

Over four songs that span the length of a feature film, Sumac turn The Healer into a beguiling feat of experimental metal that’s at once cleansing and terrifying. —Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 4 Dec. 2024

But her beguiling illusion of soft leather rendered as hard sculpture doesn’t betray any photographic subject matter. —Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above