Attractions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Sites known for their ability to draw crowds seeking pleasure or entertainment
2. Locations renowned for their capability to captivate and entertain a variety of audiences
3. Destinations or items that capture attention and invite visitors ; characteristics or forces that pull individuals or objects toward each other

Etymology: Since "attractions" is simply the plural of "attraction," the real story sits with the singular noun and its Latin ancestor. The Latin verb "trahere" meant "to draw" or "to pull," and combined with "ad" ("to" or "toward") it formed "attrahere," "to draw toward." Its past participle, "attractus," gave Latin the noun "attractio," a drawing toward something. That noun passed into Old French as "attraction" and then into Middle English as "attraccioun," so English received the word with its original sense of physical pulling intact. Magnets and gravity were the everyday examples of attraction for centuries before the word came to describe a person's charm or appeal. The modern sense of a place that draws visitors is a later extension of that pulling meaning: a site that pulls people toward it, the way a magnet pulls iron. The plural "attractions" carries that sense into tourism and entertainment.

Synonyms: appeals, lures, draws, enticements, allurements

Antonyms: repulsions, deterrents, aversion