hypnotize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put in the hypnotic state.
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to influence, control, or direct completely, as by personal charm, words, or domination.
The speaker hypnotized the audience with his powerful personality.
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to frighten or startle so that movement is impossible.
The headlights hypnotized the deer and it just stood staring at the oncoming car.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to induce hypnosis in (a person)
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to charm or beguile; fascinate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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hypnotizableadjective
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hypnotizernoun
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half-hypnotizedadjective
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hypnotizationnoun
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hypnotizabilitynoun
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unhypnotizableadjective
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rehypnotizeverb (used with object)
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unhypnotizeverb (used with object)
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has hypnotizedperfect 3rd person singular
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have hypnotizedperfect
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am hypnotizingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been hypnotizingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are hypnotizingprogressive
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is hypnotizingprogressive 3rd person singular
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hypnotizingparticiple
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hypnotizessingular 3rd person
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have been hypnotizingperfect progressive
Past
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had hypnotizedperfect
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was hypnotizingprogressive singular
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had been hypnotizingperfect progressive
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were hypnotizingprogressive plural
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hypnotizedparticiple
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hypnotizedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of hypnotize
Explanation
When you hypnotize someone, you draw him into a mental state that is receptive to suggestion. If you are looking to break a bad habit like cigarette smoking, ask someone to hypnotize you. To hypnotize is to induce a calm, focused state in one's self or in another person. The state is called hypnosis, and a person who can do this for someone else is a hypnotist. The word hypnotize comes from the Greek hypnotikos, "inclined to sleep or putting to sleep," and popular ideas of hypnosis reflect a kind of half-asleep state. In reality, when you hypnotize someone, the person remains awake and intently focused.
Vocabulary lists containing hypnotize
Freak the Mighty
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Persepolis
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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.
“Unusual Tuesday is definitely a church service in that we get together and hypnotize the musicians, get into a rhythm and all that stuff,” Rhodes says.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
Watching a trickster hypnotize someone in a live performance might impress you.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
I knew what she meant: I’d only gotten acupuncture once, despite her promise that bodywork could “unstick” the trauma; I refused to let Dr. M hypnotize me.
From Slate • Aug. 31, 2024
Once there, Nandor and Nadja put the anchors to sleep before taking over the newscast to hypnotize their viewers.
From Salon • Aug. 4, 2023
And the head of Asmodeus Poisonteeth, the giant adder, lay severed upon the ground, its eyes dulled in death, never again to hypnotize another living creature!
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
