infatuate

Definition

1. To inspire with unreasoning and extravagant, usually transitory, admiration, love or passion. ' S/He's infatuated with gambling.'
SYNONYMS: allure; arouse lust; arouse desire; attract; attract notice; bait; be a prickteaser; be amiable; be lovable; be loved; be wonderful; become a favorite; bedazzle; bewitch; bowl over; break hearts; captivate; caress; catch; catch one's eye; cause desire; charm; coquette; court; dazzle; draw; enamor; enchant; endear; endear oneself; engage the affections; enrapture; enthral; excite; excite love; fascinate; fill with longing; flirt; gain one's affections; have a place in every heart; heat; inflame; ingratiate oneself; insinuate oneself; languish; lead to the altar; lead on; lure; make a conquest; make oneself a favorite; make mad; make a hit; make oneself attractive; make eyes; provoke desire; rouse; seduce; set all hearts on fire; smile; steal every heart; steal one's heart; stir; strike with admiration; subjugate; sweep off one's feet; take one's fancy; tantalize; tempt; tickle one's fancy; toy; turn one's head; vamp; wind or worm oneself into the affections; wink. See love for more synonyms.

QUOTES:

(1) Natalie Landauer (Marisa Berenson) to Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) about having been 'pounced' upon by Fritz in Cabaret (1972): ' Is this love or only infatuation of the body? '

(2) Dr. Harry Wolper (Peter O'Toole) answering a student and friend in Creator (1985):-- Student: ' Harry, how did you know you were in love, I mean with you and Lucy? How did you know it wasn't just infatuation? '-- Harry: ' Scientifically of course, by using the Love Formula. (...) Add up the number of times that you think about the lady each day, substract from that total the number of times that you think about yourself each day. If the remainder is more lady and less yourself, then it's love.' Later he revises his theorem: ' Under other, more extreme, conditions, the love formula is replaced by Eisenberg's Uncertainty Principle: we can never know anything.'

2. To cause to be foolish and, according to Webster's Revised Unabridged : ' to weaken the intellectual powers of, or to deprive of sound judgment.' See love for synonyms.

QUOTE: George Schneider (James Caan) to Jenny MacLaine (Marsha Mason) in Chapter Two (1979): 'It's infatuation that makes you stupid. It also makes you unable to walk.'