incuriosire

Incuriosire is an Italian transitive verb meaning to arouse curiosity or to intrigue, to spark interest in someone or something. The verb is formed with the prefix in- and a root related to curious, ultimately from Latin curiosus. It entered standard Italian usage in the modern period and is common in journalism, literature, and everyday speech.

Usage notes

Incuriosire takes a direct object referring to the thing or matter that provokes curiosity. Examples: La scoperta ha incuriosito i ricercatori (The discovery aroused the researchers’ curiosity). La campagna ha incuriosito il pubblico (The campaign intrigued the public). If the subject is the thing that generates curiosity, one can say: Questo dettaglio incuriosisce la gente.

Reflexive use

The reflexive form incuriosirsi is used to express that one becomes curious about something, as in Mi sono incuriosito dall’articolo (I became curious about the article).

Conjugation interval

In present tense, incuriosire behaves as an -ire verb with isc insertion: io incuriosisco, tu incuriosisci, lui incuriosisce, noi incuriosiamo, voi incuriosite, loro incuriosiscono. The passato prossimo uses avere as an auxiliary: ho incuriosito, hai incuriosito, ha incuriosito, abbiamo incuriosito, avete incuriosito, hanno incuriosito. It follows regular patterns for other tenses of -ire verbs with the isc variant.

Usage tips

The term is suitable for both formal and informal registers, often to describe media, stories, or events that pique interest. It is commonly paired with nouns like curiosità, interesse, attention, or with pronouns indicating the audience.