interested

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɹəstɪd/, /ˈɪntəɹɛstɪd/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɹəstəd/, /ˈɪntəɹɛstəd/

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interested (comparative more interested, superlative most interested)

1. Having or showing interest (attention or curiosity).

   I'm very interested in going to see that play.

2. (less common) Having an interest (stake); being a stakeholder; motivated by considerations of self-interest; self-serving.

   all interested parties [ ≈ all stakeholders]

   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 88, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume III, London: Harrison and Co., […], published 1781, OCLC 316121541:

     I was even mortified at those instances of his liberality, which my situation compelled me to receive, lest, being but little acquainted with my disposition, he should suspect me of being interested in my love […] .

   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], Rob Roy. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 82790126:

     they impressed my youthful mind with a sincere aversion to the northern inhabitants of Britain, as a people bloodthirsty in time of war, treacherous during truce, interested, selfish, avaricious, and tricky in the business of peaceful life, and having few good qualities [...].

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 309:

     "Oh, you are quite wrong!" cried his mother; "no love of fortune, nor of ambition, could have tempted Norbourne to desert you. Little, indeed, do you know his high and generous nature, when you suppose that he could be actuated by an interested motive."

   • 1982, Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians: The Templars and Their Myth, Oxford University Press, page 99

     He maintained -- the thought is not unnatural in a royal historiographer -- that the generous actions of great princes are often twisted and misrepresented by interested critics.

   1. Owning a share of a company; being a shareholder.

interested

1. simple past tense and past participle of interest