fascination
Americannoun
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the power or action of fascinating.
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the state or an instance of being fascinated.
They watched in fascination.
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a fascinating quality; powerful attraction; charm.
the fascination of foreign travel.
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Cards. a form of solitaire.
Etymology
Origin of fascination
1595–1605; < Latin fascinātiōn- (stem of fascinātiō ) a bewitching. See fascinate, -ion
Explanation
If diamondback turtles hold a certain fascination for you, you know everything there is to know about them, you talk about them all the time, and maybe you've embroidered one on your pillowcase. Fascination is an irresistible attraction. Be careful to use the right preposition: you've got a fascination with handsome princes, but handsome princes hold a fascination for you. When you have a fascination, it's as if you're bewitched, and — what do you know? — the word goes back to the Latin fascinare, which means "cast a spell on."
Vocabulary lists containing fascination
The Cay
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"The Witch Boy" by Molly Knox Ostertag
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Schooled
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In class, we arrive at “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” and my students’ quiet fascination with Didion turns to stone.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
At Slate, we call this mad dash to the finish line “Opinionpalooza,” and we approach it with equal parts fascination, skepticism, and dread every year.
From Slate • Jun. 1, 2026
“I was fundamentally distrustful of pretty much everyone who was reaching out,” said Parsons, who assumed that Hollywood producers didn’t understand the subcultural fascination with ominous “liminal spaces.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 31, 2026
Parsons is one such clear-eyed observer, able to take an internet phenomenon like liminal spaces and pick apart that fascination, studying what prompts the uncanny allure and transforming his findings into a complete, complex thesis.
From Salon • May 30, 2026
I told him about Mo's fascination with botany, and how he recorded every flower he found.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
