Lure

/lʊə/ · noun

Meaning

(also figurative) Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure..

Definitions by Sense

1. (also figurative) Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure.
2. (fishing) An artificial bait attached to a fishing line to attract fish.
3. (falconry) A bunch of feathers attached to a line, used in falconry to recall the hawk.
4. A velvet smoothing brush.
5. (transitive) To attract by temptation, appeal, or guile.
6. (transitive) To attract fish with a lure.
7. (transitive, falconry) To recall a hawk with a lure.
8. (music) Alternative form of lur.

Example Sentences

How many have with a smile made small account Of Beauty and her lures

My Faulcon now is ſharpe and paſſing emptie, / And til ſhe ſtoope ſhe muſt not be full gorg'd, / For then ſhe never lookes upon her lure.

It had been sixteen years since the BBC’s Grace Wyndham Goldie wrote her internal memo about luring him back to make sociological/scientific TV programmes. Now a second note had circulated, from the science department, proposing that he should present the Corporation’s next educative megaseries.

Professor is what you become after teaching for twenty to thirty years. Research Professor is what you then want to become, so you can finally stop worrying about students and do the research that lured you into academia in the first place!

Synonyms for lure

Antonyms for lure

Related Words

Word Forms

• lures
• luring
• lured

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions