Library / English Dictionary

FASCINATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Attract; cause to be enamored

Example:

She captured all the men's hearts

Synonyms:

becharm; beguile; bewitch; captivate; capture; catch; charm; enamor; enamour; enchant; entrance; fascinate; trance

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "fascinate" is one way to...):

appeal; attract (be attractive to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fascinate"):

hold (hold the attention of)

work (gratify and charm, usually in order to influence)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to fascinate Sue

Derivation:

fascination (a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual)

Sense 2

Meaning:

To render motionless, as with a fixed stare or by arousing terror or awe

Example:

The snake charmer fascinates the cobra

Synonyms:

fascinate; grip; spellbind; transfix

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "fascinate" is one way to...):

interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

fascination (the capacity to attract intense interest)

fascination (the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to be interested or curious

Synonyms:

fascinate; intrigue

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "fascinate" is one way to...):

interest; matter to (be of importance or consequence)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fascinate"):

grab; seize (capture the attention or imagination of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

fascination (the capacity to attract intense interest)

fascination (the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror))

Credits

 Context examples: 

This study uncovered fascinating mechanisms, including genetic duplications and acquisition of genes from other organisms, that enabled red algae to radiate throughout the world's oceans.

(Red seaweeds, including those in sushi, thrive despite ancestor's loss of genes, National Science Foundation)

"The migration of birds is particularly fascinating because small species primarily navigate alone, at night, and at high altitudes, so people do not always see it happening."

(New insights into genetic basis of bird migration, National Science Foundation)

Rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep is a fascinating period when most of our dreams are made.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

But when Roland got home, he fell into the snares of another, who so fascinated him that he forgot the maiden.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

This fascinating icy plains region — resembling frozen mud cracks on Earth — has been informally named “Sputnik Planum”.

(New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’, NASA)

Other clusters of stars seen below NGC 1333 in this image have posed a fascinating mystery for astronomers: They appear to contain stellar infants, adolescents and adults.

(Spitzer Studies a Stellar Playground With a Long History, NASA)

And yet it is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease such a fascinating study.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I could make no sense of the subject; my own thoughts swam always between me and the page I had usually found fascinating.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

That she should struggle against the fascinating influence of his delightful art—delightful nature I thought it then—did not surprise me either; for I knew that she was sometimes jaundiced and perverse.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They formed the background of the picture, and were all looking out with eager interest at the same scene which fascinated and bewildered us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)