Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Extremely attractive; entrancing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Ecstatic delight; mental transport.
- Snatching; taking by violence; of or pertaining to ravishment.
- Exciting rapture or ecstasy: adapted to enchant; exquisitely lovely; enrapturing.
- Moving furiously along; hurrying.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Rapturous; transporting.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Extremely beautiful - verb Present participle of
ravish .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective stunningly beautiful
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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I love the word ravishing - and I think it really fits the spirit of what I'm trying to get at.
In Praise of Degradation Sage 2008
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In his house, my son, my own son, the flower of the House of Lancaster, learns to speak of the usurper with respect, to admire the so-called ravishing beauty of his hastily married wife, the commoner Elizabeth, and to pray for an heir for their accursed house.
The Red Queen Philippa Gregory 2010
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“I like the idea of ravishing you in the firelight.”
Magnolia Moon JoAnn Ross 2003
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Your nose is bridged in that so-called ravishing way in order to let a stream of air into your lungs.
Sacrifice Stephen French Whitman
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"She's what you might call ravishing," proclaimed Ruby.
The Rose in the Ring George Barr McCutcheon 1897
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Then he told me that he had arrived in the Valley on the noon of the day before, had found it grand and beautiful beyond all his dreams, -- 'ravishing' was one of his words, -- and was going out again, not of necessity but from choice, that very afternoon.
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Vigée-Lebrun's "ravishing" portrait of herself and her little girl, with how can I say what foretaste (as determined by that instant as if the hour had struck from a clock) of all the fun, confusedly speaking, that one was going to have, and the kind of life, always of the queer so-called inward sort, tremendously "sporting" in its way -- though that description didn't then wait upon it, that one was going to lead.
A Small Boy and Others Henry James 1879
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She had thought seriously of surprising and delighting everyone by appearing in a costume which should do justice to the loveliness which was so modest that it was apt to forget itself in admiring others – what girls call a "ravishing" dress, such as she could imagine and easily procure by the magic of the Fortunatus 'purse in her pocket.
Rose in Bloom 1876
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She had thought seriously of surprising and delighting everyone by appearing in a costume which should do justice to the loveliness which was so modest that it was apt to forget itself in admiring others what girls call a "ravishing" dress, such as she could imagine and easily procure by the magic of the Fortunatus 'purse in her pocket.
Rose In Bloom Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888 1876
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She had thought seriously of surprising and delighting everyone by appearing in a costume which should do justice to the loveliness which was so modest that it was apt to forget itself in admiring others what girls call a "ravishing" dress, such as she could imagine and easily procure by the magic of the Fortunatus 'purse in her pocket.
Rose in Bloom Louisa May Alcott 1860
slumry commented on the word ravishing
Young child slumry (who was not yet slumry, of course) came in for supper. She had been playing all afternoon and announced to her father "I am ravishing." Of course she meant ravenous. Oops.
July 10, 2007
reesetee commented on the word ravishing
Yes, but what a delightful mistake proto-slumry made! Perhaps you were both. :-)
Reminds me of when I was a kid taking a road trip w/ my parents and countless siblings. I spotted a traffic sign that horrified me. "Dad," I warned, "We need to take a different road! That sign says there's murdering traffic ahead!"
Of course, it was *merging* traffic...but sometimes that's just as scary. ;-)
July 10, 2007
uselessness commented on the word ravishing
I used to think merge was a powerful and dramatic word. I remember reading a story aloud to my mom many years ago that involved two spaceships merging.
Mom: "They merged?"
Me (tense): "Uh huh. The spaceships MERGED."
Mom: "Okay..."
Funny the inane childhood things we remember.
Also, I've been known to confuse ravishing with ravaging.
July 10, 2007
reesetee commented on the word ravishing
Haha! I did too, u. I suspect it's one of those poor words that has suffered from overexposure in recent years, so maybe it doesn't sound so powerful anymore. Or maybe we've just grown old(er).
Were you the author of the story about the spaceships merging?
July 10, 2007
uselessness commented on the word ravishing
No, the story was in one of those Childcraft books World Book publishes. Sort of a silly quasi-educational sci-fi thing.
July 10, 2007
slumry commented on the word ravishing
Merging into freeway traffic still feels a bit too powerful to me...That murdering traffic.
I love ravishing/ravaging. "She was a ravaging beauty."
What did I do without Wordie!
July 10, 2007
arby commented on the word ravishing
How the hell did two spaceships merge? That still sounds ominous to me!
And yes, I am scared of merging traffic too.
July 17, 2007
uselessness commented on the word ravishing
The really crazy thing was that the two spaceships were actually the same ship, merging against itself after traveling through a time warp. I think I forgot to mention that part.
July 17, 2007
arby commented on the word ravishing
Whoa. Heavy!
July 17, 2007
reesetee commented on the word ravishing
You know, u, that story is starting to sound a mite familiar....
July 18, 2007
uselessness commented on the word ravishing
Were you a Childcraft fan too?
July 18, 2007
reesetee commented on the word ravishing
We definitely had books around by that publisher, but I don't remember being especially drawn to those volumes in particular. Basically, I read everything I could get my hands on--sounds as though you did too. :-)
July 18, 2007
uselessness commented on the word ravishing
I did when I was a kid... I wish I could get that habit back now that I'm grown up... *sigh*
July 18, 2007
reesetee commented on the word ravishing
The problem is that we have to work for a living when we could be reading. ;-)
July 18, 2007
jeffazi commented on the word ravishing
stunningly beautiful.
October 31, 2007