Other forms: temptations
Temptation is the pull towards something you know you should resist. Resist temptation, give in to temptation, the temptation to say nothing.
It takes to plus a verb: the temptation to look. Lead us not into temptation is from the Lord's Prayer, which is where most English speakers first meet the word. Resist temptation and give in to temptation are the fixed opposites. Note tempt, the verb; tempting, which is what the thing is; and that temptation is usually about small things and is used with a certain amount of humour.
1nountemptationThe pull towards something you should resist.
“The temptation to reply immediately is the one to watch.”
temptation is a pull towards something.
Latin temptatio comes from temptare, to test or try. Temptation and attempt are the same verb, so being tempted is being tested — which is exactly how the religious sense uses it.
Latin
temptātiō
Old French
temptacion
English, today
temptation
From Old French temptacion, from Latin temptātiō. From Old French temptacion, from Latin temptatio. Morphologically tempt + ation.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA