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Definition of interest verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

interest

verb
 
/ˈɪntrəst/,
 
/ˈɪntrest/
 
/ˈɪntrəst/,
 
/ˈɪntrest/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they interest
 
/ˈɪntrəst/,
 
/ˈɪntrest/
 
/ˈɪntrəst/,
 
/ˈɪntrest/
he / she / it interests
 
/ˈɪntrəsts/,
 
/ˈɪntrests/
 
/ˈɪntrəsts/,
 
/ˈɪntrests/
past simple interested
 
/ˈɪntrəstɪd/,
 
/ˈɪntrestɪd/
 
/ˈɪntrəstɪd/,
 
/ˈɪntrestɪd/
past participle interested
 
/ˈɪntrəstɪd/,
 
/ˈɪntrestɪd/
 
/ˈɪntrəstɪd/,
 
/ˈɪntrestɪd/
-ing form interesting
 
/ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/,
 
/ˈɪntrestɪŋ/
 
/ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/,
 
/ˈɪntrestɪŋ/
Phrasal Verbs
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  1. to attract your attention and make you feel interested; to make yourself give your attention to something
    • interest somebody Politics doesn't interest me.
    • The museum has something to interest everyone, young and old.
    • interest somebody/yourself in something She has always interested herself in charity work.
    • it interests somebody to do something It may interest you to know that Andy didn't accept the job.
    Extra Examples
    • It is this aspect of the work that really interests me.
    • He tried to interest the director in his plan.
    • She has always interested herself in helping younger musicians.
    • The topic interests me very much.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • greatly
    • particularly
    • really
    verb + interest
    • try to
    See full entry
    Word Originlate Middle English (originally as interess): from Anglo-Norman French interesse, from Latin interesse ‘differ, be important’, from inter- ‘between’ + esse ‘be’. The -t was added partly by association with Old French interest ‘damage, loss’, apparently from Latin interest ‘it is important’. The original sense was ‘the possession of a share in or a right to something’; hence sense (6). Sense (1) and the verb arose in the 18th cent. Sense (4) was influenced by medieval Latin interesse ‘compensation for a debtor's defaulting’.
See interest in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee interest in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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