captivate
cap·tiv·ate/ˈkæptəˌveɪt/verb
captivate is spelled C-A-P-T-I-V-A-T-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (cap·tiv·ate). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 51,738th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, captivate means “To attract and hold (someone's) attention and interest; to charm, to entrance, to fascinate, to enchain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in captivate?
| Letters | 9: C-A-P-T-I-V-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: cap·tiv·ate |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 51,738th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is captivate?
Captivate appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 51,738th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce captivate?
- UK /ˈkæptɪveɪt/
- US /ˈkæptəˌveɪt/
As an adjective (“Made captive; taken prisoner; captured, subdued”): /ˈkæptɪvət/, /ˈkæptəˌvət/.
Captivate has 3 syllables, split cap·tiv·ate in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-captivate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of captivate
- captivates present, singular, he/she/it
- captivating participle, present
- captivated participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
- more captivate comparative
- most captivate superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does captivate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo make (a person, an animal, etc.) a captive; to take prisoner; to capture, to subdue.
- 2
obsoleteTo capture or control (the mind, etc.); to subdue, to subjugate.
- 3
To attract and hold (someone's) attention and interest; to charm, to entrance, to fascinate, to enchain.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteMade captive; taken prisoner; captured, subdued.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Captivate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to attract and hold (someone’s) attention and interest:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | captiver |
| German | bestechen, bezaubern, entzücken, faszinieren, fesseln |
| Portuguese | cativar |
| Spanish | cautivar, captivar, embelesar, captar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does captivate come from?
Learned borrowing from Late Latin captīvātus, the perfect passive participle of captīvō (“to capture”), from Latin captīvus (“captive, prisoner”) (ultimately from capiō (“to capture, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). Equivalent to captive + -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).