fascination

[fas-uh-ney-shuhn]

noun

1. the power or action of fascinating. fascinating.

2. the state or an instance of being fascinated.

   They watched in fascination.

3. a fascinating fascinating quality; powerful attraction; charm.

   the fascination of foreign travel.

4. Cards.,  a form of solitaire.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fascination¹

1595–1605; < Latin fascinātiōn- (stem of fascinātiō ) a bewitching. See fascinate, -ion

Example Sentences

Musk’s fascination with the land of Hope and Glory strikes me as blending his commercial interests and his incoherent techno-libertarian philosophy with more intimate and emotional elements.

Read more on Salon

Just as early youth means the endless fascination of new encounters, it also brings sudden, bewildering losses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“We’re looking to marry the dark with the light,” Ana says, noting she’s held a fascination with Halloween, costumes and masks since early childhood.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

What made Europe’s fascination with its own origins, its “deep prehistory,” an opening to global modernity?

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Not so good for the screenwriters and true-crime podcasters who trade on our strange fascination with bad guys who go underground and stay there.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• allure 
• attraction 
• charm 
• enchantment 
• magic 
• obsession