Can I say "I will infatuate that girl" or "I will infatuate you", meaning that I will do something to someone and then that someone will become infatuated with me?
Does it make sense?
Thanks for the attention!
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1"I infatuate you" is never said. Instead we say to be infatuated "with" someone. If you want the other person to be "infatuated with you" try: "I'm going to make her fall for me", or "I'm going to make her fall head over heels in love [with me]". vocabulary.com/dictionary/infatuate– Mari-Lou ACommented Aug 10, 2015 at 23:55
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1 Answer
The word "infatuate" means to make foolish, from the Latin in + fatuus, foolish. (We get the word "fatuous" by the same path.) Consider the KJV of Job 12:17 -- "He leadeth counsellers away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools." And the commentary of Adam Clarke in his 1837 book The Holy Bible: ... With a Commentary and Critical Notes ....
He [God] infatuates the judges. Does this refer to the foolish conduct of some of the Israelitish judges such as Samson?
But the Ngram viewer finds no usages of "he infatuates" past the 1880s, reflecting the change in voice from active to passive and the concomitant change in meaning from "make foolish" to "be overcome by an intense and unreasoning passion," usually of love.
"I will infatuate that girl" is archaic and means that you will make her act like a fool. Rather say, to yourself or out loud what males have been saying to themselves and others forever:
I will act like a fool, and that girl can't help but become infatuated with me.
