titillate

Hitchcockについての記事がReader's Digest 2月号に出ていました。
In creating a suspense story, the plot must contain a sensible reason for all the spying, villainy, manslaughter and perfidy that so titillate the audience. In other words, there has to be something the villains are after - jewels, money, a map or that mysterious set of papers known in spy stories as "the plans".
肝心な単語 "titillate" の意味が分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to excite pleasurably : arouse by stimulation: a film made to titillate the audience
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to make someone excited intentionally but only a little, usually with sexual images or descriptions: So many adverts nowadays are designed to titillate.: humorous Carter's biography is only spoiled by the fact that he refuses to titillate (= interest) his readers with any gossip.
・Vocabulary.com: A juicy steak may titillate your taste buds, or sexy images in a foreign film may titillate your desire. Titillate means to excite someone's imagination, especially in a sexual way.
Titillate comes from a Latin verb that means "tickle," and that's what something that titillates does to the imagination. Today's media bombard you with images made to titillate, from video game heroines with extreme physiques to casual nudity on prime-time TV. But it doesn't have to be sex to titillate. A display of fabulous pastries in a bakery window can titillate your senses, or whispered rumors about your high school principal's past life as a rodeo queen may titillate your curiosity.
"titillate" が "tickle" の親戚だと分かると覚えやすい。