enchant
/ɪnˈtʃɑːnt
/ /ɛnˈtʃɑːnt/verb [with object]
1Fill (someone) with great delight; charm: Isabel was enchanted with the idea...
- How is it that a story deceives us with its deliberate motive of telling lies, yet entices us, enchants us with delight and relief?
- From the moment I read that book I was enchanted with the heroism and gallantry and poetry of Collins's life.
- David was enchanted with his beautiful young bride and she in turn appeared to be very happy with her new life in Britain.
Synonyms
captivate, charm, delight, dazzle, enrapture, entrance, enthral, beguile, bewitch, spellbind, ensnare, fascinate, hypnotize, mesmerize;
divert, absorb, engross, rivet, grip, transfix
informal tickle someone pink, bowl someone over, get under someone's skin
rare rapture
1.1 (often as adjective enchanted) Put (someone or something) under a spell: an enchanted garden...
- Isn't there a Druid spell that enchants a cloak to help protect you against heat?
- I can only think they must have enchanted glasses in there, because no matter how much champagne I drank, my glass never seemed to go down.
- It wasn't only beautiful, but scary, too, as the best enchanted worlds should be.
Derivatives
enchantedly
- Every child was emerging from his or her home, listening enchantedly to the marvelous tune.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the senses 'put under a spell' and 'delude'; formerly also as inchant): from French enchanter, from Latin incantare, from in- 'in' + cantare 'sing'.
Enchant is from French enchanter, from Latin incantare, which was based on cantare ‘to sing’. These Latin words gave us chant (Late Middle English), canticle (Middle English) a ‘little song’, and incantation (Late Middle English). The original meanings of enchant were ‘to put under a spell’ and ‘to delude’. Enchanter's nightshade (late 16th century) was believed by early botanists to be the herb used in potions by the enchantress Circe of Greek mythology, who charmed Odysseus' companions and turned them into pigs. See charm, incentive