amusing
- 01 B1 Intermediate
making you laugh or smile; providing entertainment.
causing laughter or providing entertainment; often implies a lighthearted or mild quality rather than intense hilarity.
Simple“He told an amusing story about his first day at work that made everyone laugh.”
In context“The speaker opened the conference with an amusing anecdote, successfully breaking the ice and putting the audience at ease before the technical presentations began.”
PitfallI am very amusing by your story. I am very amused by your story.Use 'amusing' to describe the thing that is funny, and 'amused' to describe how you feel.
“Your article ( 21 August ) about concerns raised by Healthwatch Rotherham that an AI telephone receptionist used by GP practices could not understand broad Yorkshire accents was amusing, but with serious undertones.”
By surface analysis, amuse + -ing.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.