fascination
Americannoun
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fascinations
plural
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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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
He said he had grown up with a "fascination" with planes after his father had taken him to air shows at RAF St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, inspiring him to join the RAF.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
If Jack the Ripper had been identified and the case explained, would Jack be a source of fascination now?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
"Our work helps explain our fascination with crystals and contributes to the understanding of the evolutionary roots of aesthetics and worldview," concluded García-Ruiz.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Hollywood’s fascination with YouTube creators is going to the next level.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Sitting in a lion baby seat at Mrs. B’s sock-covered feet, Sabrina stared with intense fascination.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
But one of the main fascinations of Mr. Goode’s quasi-period piece is the ingenious ways his subjects found to circumvent the law, rationalize their crimes and destroy that which they claimed to love.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Instead of a pool, this canvas features another of Hockney’s signature fascinations: a manicured, bright green lawn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
Maybe the only purpose in any of this is to prolong morbid fascinations, to twist the knife.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
One of the eternal fascinations of Test cricket, especially in these Bazballistic times, is that there are almost infinite ways for interpreting what has happened.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024
This big city is so full of fascinations of one sort or another, that one can hardly be blamed if one is distracted at the first.
From The Transgression of Andrew Vane a novel by Guy Wetmore Carryl
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.
