transfix
/transˈfɪks
/ /trɑːnsˈfɪks/ /tranzˈfɪks/ /trɑːnzˈfɪks/verb [with object]
1Cause (someone) to become motionless with horror, wonder, or astonishment: he was transfixed by the pain in her face she stared at him, transfixed...
- I was transfixed, wondering if the lead singer was male or female.
- At night I am transfixed by the gentle motion of the great hull accompanied by the hypnotic creaking of richly-grained wood.
- We were transfixed, and used to wonder whether all the women in England were like that.
Synonyms
mesmerize, hypnotize, spellbind, bewitch, captivate, entrance, enthral, fascinate, engross, enrapture, stun, stupefy, astound, grip, root someone to the spot, stop someone dead, stop someone in their tracks;
paralyse, petrify, immobilize, freeze, rivet
rare gorgonize
2Pierce with a sharp implement or weapon: a field mouse is transfixed by the curved talons of an owl...
- Alas for poor Bill, more arrows would soon pierce him than transfixed Saint Sebastian.
- Plunging from his cheetah-drawn chariot, Bacchus looses arrows of longing from his eyes at Ariadne, and transfixes her in mid-flight.
Synonyms
impale, stab, spear, pierce, spike, skewer, stick, gore, pin, bayonet, harpoon, lance, run through, puncture, perforate
rare transpierce
Derivatives
transfixion
/ noun ...- This has been an historic decade in the development of the cinema, a breathlessly wonderful time of captivation and transfixion brought forth from the glories of the moving picture.
- His comment was so random it shook me from my transfixion.
- The girl watched in both horror and transfixion.
Origin
Late 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin transfix- 'pierced through', from the verb transfigere, from trans- 'across' + figere 'fix, fasten'.