mesmerize
/ˈmɛzmərʌɪz
/(also mesmerise)
verb [with object]
1Capture the complete attention of (someone); transfix: they were mesmerized by his story (as adjective mesmerizing) a mesmerizing stare...
- He thought about this for a moment as he stared mesmerized by Maria's eyes, seeing the secrets she had locked behind them.
- The Storytime panel shows a seanchaí mesmerising children with stories of the past.
- They had deep sea blue eyes that mesmerized most men they came across.
1.1 archaic Hypnotize (someone): he was mesmerized when at the point of death
Synonyms
enthral, spellbind, entrance, hold spellbound, dazzle, bewitch, charm, captivate, enrapture, enchant, fascinate, transfix, transport, grip, magnetize, hypnotize
informal get under someone's skin
Derivatives
mesmerization
- From the very onset, the readers of this book get the chilling mesmerization of poet's intricate balancing of imagination and crude reality with which he weaves the thoughts in these poems.
- Several recently published studies conclude that supermarkets are geared to lull the average shopper into a trancelike state and that this glassy-eyed mesmerization makes the customer purchase more goods.
- My awestruck mesmerization of the view was broken by his words, and I looked up to see Gabriel standing there looking extremely uncomfortable.
mesmerizer
- Not all of the mesmerizers act was without some peril for the subject.
- And he was not alone in his skepticism - at least during the early stages of his career as the mesmerizer's puppet: ‘Up to that time a dozen wise old heads, the intellectual aristocracy of the town, had held out as implacable unbelievers…
- It involves some social role-playing with the mesmerizer making suggestions and his clients becoming absolutely mesmerized by him.
mesmerizingly
- I love best the pictures where the horizon has disappeared altogether and everything seems to be falling apart, mesmerisingly unstable.
- It took about four hours to drive from Bismarck to Fargo, down Interstate 10, a long, flat, almost mesmerisingly straight road.
- It was mesmerisingly dire, an irrefutable argument against open access to the airwaves for amateurs who imagine themselves talented.