charm

[chahrm]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR charm ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a power of pleasing or attracting, as through personality or beauty: charm of manner; the charm of a mountain lake.

a trait or feature imparting this power.

charms, attractiveness.

a trinket to be worn on a bracelet, necklace, etc.

something worn or carried on one's person for its supposed magical effect; amulet.

any action supposed to have magical power.

the chanting or recitation of a magic verse or formula.

a verse or formula credited with magical power.

Physics. a quantum number assigned the value +1 for one kind of quark, −1 for its antiquark, and 0 for all other quarks. Symbol: CCompare charmed quark.

verb (used with object)

to delight or please greatly by beauty, attractiveness, etc.; enchant: She charmed us with her grace.

to act upon (someone or something) with or as with a compelling or magical force: to charm a bird from a tree.

to endow with or protect by supernatural powers.

to gain or influence through personal charm: He charmed a raise out of his boss.

verb (used without object)

to be fascinating or pleasing.

to use charms.

to act as a charm.

Origin of charm

1250–1300; Middle English charme, from Old French, from Latin carminem, accusative of carmen “song, magical formula,” from unattested canmen (by dissimilation), equivalent to can(ere) “to sing” + -men noun suffix

Related formscharm·ed·ly

[chahr-mid-lee] /ˈtʃɑr mɪd li/, adverbcharm·er, nouncharm·less, adjectivecharm·less·ly, adverb

Synonyms for charm

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR charm ON THESAURUS.COM

1. attractiveness, allurement. 4. bauble. 5. talisman. 6. enchantment, spell. 8. spell. 10. fascinate, captivate, entrance, enrapture, ravish; allure, bewitch.

charm

[chahrm]

noun British Dialect.

blended singing of birds, children, etc.

Origin of charm

before 1000; Middle English cherm(e), Old English cerm, ceorm, variant of ci(e)rm outcry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for charm

magic, beauty, glamour, charisma, appeal, grace, tickle, bewitch, fascinate, enthrall, captivate, please, delight, hypnotize, beguile, cajole, wow, enrapture, attract, mesmerize

Examples from the Web for charm

Contemporary Examples of charm

There is charm, oodles of it, but also a steeliness about Gilkes.
William, Kate, and Jay Z’s Favorite Art Star: Alexander Gilkes' World of Rock Stars and Royalty
Tim Teeman
December 10, 2014
In the end, Stephen did not kill young William, which the knight would claim was due to his charm.
England’s Greatest Knight Puts ‘Game of Thrones’ to Shame
William O’Connor
December 9, 2014
The charm continues when he waxes on—and on—about the immeasurable respect he has for Cumberbatch, his friend of over 15 years.
From ‘The Good Wife’ to ‘The Imitation Game’: Matthew Goode Wages His Charm Offensive
Kevin Fallon
November 24, 2014
The system faintly evokes the charm of the Hogwarts houses—without a Sorting Hat, that is.
Freshman Year Sucks—and That’s OK
Eleanor Hyun
November 12, 2014
In the last several months Pyongyang has launched a charm offensive directed at Moscow, Tokyo, and Seoul.
Why North Korea Released Two Americans
Gordon G. Chang
November 9, 2014

Historical Examples of charm

The charm of the place does not lie so much in detail as in broad effects.
Yorkshire Painted And Described
Gordon Home
The charm of it all, the deathless charm and the astounding veracity!
The Man Shakespeare
Frank Harris
I knew—I begin to understand him so well—just how he felt the charm of everything.
The Bacillus of Beauty
Harriet Stark
No other form of verse has, therefore, in so great a degree, the charm of freshness.
The Book of Old English Ballads
George Wharton Edwards
The charm that held us to this rough place was the abundance of game.
A Woman Tenderfoot
Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson

British Dictionary definitions for charm

charm

noun

the quality of pleasing, fascinating, or attracting people

a pleasing or attractive feature

a small object worn or kept for supposed magical powers of protection; amulet; talisman

a trinket worn on a bracelet

a magic spell; enchantment

a formula or action used in casting such a spell

physics an internal quantum number of certain elementary particles, used to explain some scattering experiments

like a charm perfectly; successfully

verb

to attract or fascinate; delight greatly

to cast a magic spell on

to protect, influence, or heal, supposedly by magic

(tr) to influence or obtain by personal charmhe charmed them into believing him

Word Origin for charm

C13: from Old French charme, from Latin carmen song, incantation, from canere to sing

charm

noun

Southwest English dialect a loud noise, as of a number of people chattering or of birds singing

Word Origin for charm

C16: variant of chirm

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for charm

c.1300, "incantation, magic charm," from Old French charme (12c.) "magic charm, magic, spell; incantation, song, lamentation," from Latin carmen "song, verse, enchantment, religious formula," from canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)), with dissimilation of -n- to -r- before -m- in intermediate form *canmen (for a similar evolution, see Latin germen "germ," from *genmen). The notion is of chanting or reciting verses of magical power.

A yet stronger power than that of herb or stone lies in the spoken word, and all nations use it both for blessing and cursing. But these, to be effective, must be choice, well knit, rhythmic words (verba concepta), must have lilt and tune; hence all that is strong in the speech wielded by priest, physician, magician, is allied to the forms of poetry. [Jacob Grimm, "Teutonic Mythology" (transl. Stallybrass), 1883]

Sense of "pleasing quality" evolved 17c. Meaning "small trinket fastened to a watch-chain, etc." first recorded 1865. Quantum physics sense is from 1964. To work like a charm (figuratively) is recorded by 1824.

c.1300, "to recite or cast a magic spell," from Old French charmer (13c.) "to enchant, to fill (someone) with desire (for something); to protect, cure, treat; to maltreat, harm," from Late Latin carminare, from Latin carmen (see charm (n.)). In Old French used alike of magical and non-magical activity. In English, "to win over by treating pleasingly, delight" from mid-15c. Related: Charmed; charming. Charmed (short for I am charmed) as a conventional reply to a greeting or meeting is attested by 1825.

charm in Science

charm

[chärm]

One of the flavors of quarks, contributing to the charm number-a quantum number-for hadrons.

A charmed particle is a particle that contains at least one charmed quark or charmed antiquark. The charmed quark was hypothesized to account for the longevity of the J/psi particle and to explain differences in the behavior of leptons and hadrons. See more at flavor.

Idioms and Phrases with charm

charm

In addition to the idioms beginning with charm

charmed life
charm the pants off

also see:

(charm the) pants off
work like a charm