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
The prosecution alleged that Phiri and Candunde were hired by a fugitive former MP to bewitch Hichilema.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 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
While “I Put a Spell on You” is a fan-favorite, the super-creepy “Come Little Children,” sung by Parker’s Sarah to bewitch children for eating, is also a memorable performance.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2022
The Creevey brothers had managed to get hold of a stack of Support Cedric Diggory! badges and were trying to bewitch them to make them say Support Harry Potter! instead.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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
Its heroine Seren must battle a vengeful supernatural being that bewitches her adoptive aristocratic Welsh family.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 9, 2019
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
"Yes, Hartmut has something about him which bewitches one," exclaimed Regine, half angry at her own irresolution.
From The Northern Light by E. Werner
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
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
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
“It wouldn’t surprise me if the Ortegas bewitched Papá,” he said angrily.
From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty
Curry pressed a bewitching soulfulness through all those layers of spirit gum and latex.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
The title track, which emphasizes the rapper’s new level of stardom, is anchored by a gleaming flip of Linda Clifford’s “Never Gonna Stop,” just four notes circling in a bewitching loop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
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
What’s so bewitching about Mexico City, and the country at large, Iñárritu thinks, is the people’s worldview and how they confront their realities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
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.
