fascinated
Americanadjective
-
having the attention attracted and held by a person or thing having unique power or charm, unusual character, etc.; enthralled or captivated.
The nature trail guide opened one of the boxes to let the fascinated onlookers view two baby bluebirds inside.
-
strongly interested or intrigued by something.
I'm speaking now not as a lawyer, just as a fascinated observer of mankind.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fascinated
Explanation
When you're fascinated, you're hypnotized, mesmerized, spellbound, and transfixed — totally absorbed by something. There are two ways to be fascinated: You can be fascinated by something happening right now, like an interesting new video game you're playing. Other fascinations are more long term, like a scientist who devotes his life to studying birds because he's fascinated by them. Things that make you fascinated have to be so interesting and so intriguing that it feels like they have a magic grip on your attention span.
Vocabulary lists containing fascinated
Maniac Magee
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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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.
Fascinated by computer games, Togelius taught himself to program so he could create his own.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
Fascinated by the endless options of what to do next, Krug wrote “Resurface: A Guide to Navigating Life’s Biggest Transitions.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 14, 2025
Fascinated by their discovery of a mechanism which safeguards the biallelic expression of haploinsufficient genes, the researchers investigated how this MSL2 mechanism works at the molecular level.
From Science Daily • Nov. 29, 2023
Fascinated by his story, a team of genealogists from Anglia Research, based in Ipswich, later took on the task of investigating his past and tracing any living family members.
From BBC • May 25, 2023
Fascinated by the promising texture of a brand-new book.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
