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)
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bewitches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bewitched,
past participle, past
-
bewitching
present participle
verb
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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
Washington, having spurned a crown himself, recognized the siren song that could bewitch even ostensibly democratic leaders, particularly in polities where checks on power are easily subverted.
From Slate ● Feb. 17, 2025
Well, when there are people available to bewitch.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2022
And he took a delight in jumbling scenes and time to both bewitch and bewilder his audiences.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2018
“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
The music bewitches the maiden; Forth from her home doth she go; She follows the bony fiddler, Who sings as he scrapes his bow.
From Poems and Ballads of Heinrich Heine by Heinrich Heine
As Ashim pokes through her things—a Penguin edition of new American plays, records by Joan Baez and the Rolling Stones—he finds himself increasingly bewitched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Yes, the bye week bewitched them in 2022 and 2023, when the offense lost its swagger and the Dodgers were beaten in two stunning division series upsets by the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2025
Chinese state media said the group had been "bewitched" by criminal organisations and were stranded in Thailand after illegally leaving the country.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2025
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
Fred and George bewitched a number of purple lanterns, all emblazoned with a large number 17, to hang in midair over the guests.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
In another context, the size, style and theme of Ms. Kiwanga’s work would make it bewitching.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 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
This week, Rausch’s fellow Traitors, Housewives Candiace Dillard Bassett and Lisa Rinna, get to peacock in a massive crown and, for Rinna, a brooch as bewitching as it is deadly.
From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2026
Mary Dunbar had accused them of bewitching and tormenting her.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2025
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
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.
