ravishing means extremely beautiful. It carries an Arena rating of 1650, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ravishing ranks #2,830 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #4,311 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #5,261 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,458 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
Why “ravishing” is a great word
Having such overwhelming beauty that it inspires intense delight or admiration. From the present participle of the Middle English verb 'ravisshen', meaning 'to seize, carry off, or rape', which derived from the Old French 'ravir', from the Latin 'rapere' ("to seize, carry off, abduct"). Unlike "beautiful," which denotes a general aesthetic pleasure, or "alluring," which suggests a tempting enticement, ravishing describes a beauty so potent it feels like a forcible taking of one's attention—an ambush of the senses. It is the shock of a crimson sunset over a darkling plain, the arresting perfection of a single bloom in a winter garden, the way a single note from a cello can stop breath in the chest; not merely seen, but seized, a captivation that borders on abduction.
adj
- Extremely beautifule.g.“Every time I get into a conversation with this ravishing girl, I want it to last forever.”
noun
- An act of ravishment.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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