bewitch
Americanverb (used with object)
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bewitches,
present (3rd person singular)
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bewitched,
past participle, past
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bewitching
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
bewitches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bewitched,
past participle, past
-
bewitching
present participle
verb
-
to attract and fascinate; enchant
-
to cast a spell over
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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bewitchernoun
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bewitcherynoun
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bewitchingnessnoun
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bewitchmentnoun
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bewitchingadjective
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bewitchinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bewitchsimple
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bewitchessimple
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have bewitchedperfect
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has bewitchedperfect
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am bewitchingprogressive
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are bewitchingprogressive
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is bewitchingprogressive
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have been bewitchingperfect progressive
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has been bewitchingperfect progressive
Past
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bewitchedsimple
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had bewitchedperfect
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was bewitchingprogressive
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were bewitchingprogressive
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had been bewitchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bewitch
First recorded in 1175–1225, bewitch is from the Middle English word biwicchen; see be-, witch
Explanation
To bewitch is to cast a spell on someone with witchcraft or to capture their attention in another way. You might bewitch someone with your beauty or with your potion. The choice is yours. The word witch is a big clue to what bewitching means. In a Halloween story, if a witch casts a spell over someone to control them, that's an example of bewitching. Bewitching happens in the real world when something captures your attention or attracts you. A fascinating storyteller bewitches you. When people fall in love, they bewitch one another.
Vocabulary lists containing bewitch
Born a Crime
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"The Flight of Icarus" by Sally Benson
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Merci Suárez Changes Gears
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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:
Unlike Godard, he doesn’t try to bewitch you with theory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
The prosecution alleged that Phiri and Candunde were hired by a fugitive former MP to bewitch Hichilema.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2025
Well, when there are people available to bewitch.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2022
The Friz’s diverse interests, complete fearlessness, and unflagging cheer both annoy and bewitch her students.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2020
“Have they found a new way to bewitch us?”
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
He has constructed a glossy fever dream that bewitches as much as it befuddles.
From Salon ● May 20, 2022
An Ozark faith healer bewitches two construction engineers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2020
The garden — also rich in watery pools and jumbo succulents in bright pots — still bewitches with its far-from-the-dusty-medina vibe.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2019
But Ms. Schulman does supply a magical, lighter-than-air young girl who bewitches Jake in the Daisy Buchanan manner, even if her name is Audrey and her heritage is Chinese.
From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2011
This sweet, impulsive woman, with her blue eyes and her russet hair, bewitches you, as she does her little nephew, Martin.
From What Necessity Knows by Lily Dougall
By the end of the second hour—partly spent traversing grid-patterned streets to avoid an accident—I was bewitched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
It was hearing Murphy speak of his creative process that bewitched Hunnam into that “Yes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
He said it was she who first bewitched him when he worked as a page in the stacks of the Johns Hopkins University library in Baltimore as an undergraduate.
From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
He owns more than a thousand of them - although he only plays a select few on stage - and, even as he approaches 80, the star is still bewitched by the instrument.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2023
So she said nothing, and the next day another afternoon would pass with Pearl over at the Richardsons’ again, becoming more bewitched.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
She conjures a bewitching onscreen presence that many of her contemporaries could only dream of, pulling the viewer’s gaze with a single glare from her steely eyes or the quiver of her chin.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Outflanked by cruel and fickle gods at every turn, legendary Greek hero Odysseus outsmarted a one-eyed giant, suffered through the bewitching Sirens’ song and braved the Underworld’s dead denizens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
It’s an enchanting companion to a bewitching exhibition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
It was expensive, but worth every penny — a beautiful, abstract rendering of the film’s themes, displayed in a bewitching graphic style I couldn’t get out of my mind after coveting the poster online.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2026
And from his point of view it looks like Sien has cast a spell on Vincent, bewitching him into thinking he loves her.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
