spellbind
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spellbind
1800–10; spell 2 + bind, deduced from spellbound
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:
I saw him spellbind a room reciting Sophocles.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 11, 2023
And yet, onstage, under the pink LEDs, the dancers spellbind.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2020
“Throughout his life in jazz, Cecil continues to spellbind or infuriate listeners.”
From Reuters ● Apr. 6, 2018
Standing in a tent show before a penny-dreadful melodrama, he feels the actor's hypnotic hold on the crowd, senses that his words too may one day sway and spellbind.
From Time Magazine Archive
We here at the Mumbai Young Filmmakers Council are all in agreement that Miss Mehra possesses the unique ability to truly transform her characters on-screen in such a way as to spellbind her audience.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
“Charming built-ins” and “exposed wood beams” give the interior a vintage feel, while the lush landscaping outside is equally as spellbinding.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026
If Gellar didn’t have such a spellbinding screen presence, one might think she was the common denominator factor in all of these failed series.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026
But she eventually brushed herself down and stunned the onlooking crowd with her spellbinding third run, her coach bursting into tears at the realisation of what Choi had achieved.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
Glinda’s “Wizard of Oz” entrance is spellbinding, as she descends in a floating bubble.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
But there were other times when that emotion made him spellbinding and untouchable.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
As her landscapes show, Münter was spellbound by Murnau’s simplicity and sincerity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
The spellbound astronauts pinned themselves to the windows, the first humans to see the far side of our nearest celestial neighbour.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025
Also, Joni Mitchell played “Coyote,” accompanied by Dylan, for spellbound band members at Gordon Lightfoot’s house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2024
As Amendola gently prodded him with questions, Best kept attendees spellbound with stories about the Beatles' early days.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2023
Over the next forty years, giving as many as 250 speeches a year, speaking to more than one million people, he did just that, holding his audiences spellbound with his fire-and-brimstone style of preaching.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
