entranced
Americanadjective
-
filled with delight or wonder; enraptured; captivated.
The two last songs soulfully bring the album to a lilting climax, leaving the entranced listener clamoring for more.
-
put into a trance; hypnotized.
She honestly believes she spoke to her dead mother with the help of an entranced medium.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of entranced
First recorded in 1590–1600; entrance 2 + -ed 2 for the adjective senses; entrance 2 + -ed 1 for the verb sense
Explanation
If you're entranced, you are charmed and mesmerized by something. An entranced theater-goer might gasp out loud when something scary happens on stage. When you're entranced by something, it's got you under its spell. In fact, the earliest definition of the word was "put into a trance" or "put under a spell," with the roots en-, "put in," and trance, "state of suspense" or "state of insensibility to mundane things," from the Old French word transe, "fear of coming evil." The meaning of entranced has shifted over the years to be more positive — more "charmed" than "cursed."
Vocabulary lists containing entranced
The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze
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Minecraft: The Island
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Max in the House of Spies
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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.
Four-year-old Juni Wahab was entranced by the sight of the swallows and cormorants swooping low overhead and the rushing twists of water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
"I'm entranced by Mr Haaland," said Miami resident Robert, speaking to BBC Mundo.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
By the 1870s his work—often passively comfortable with the standard paysage, or horizontal format, and entranced by distant spectacles like sunsets or mountaintops—began to seem sedate to serious viewers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
That becomes a problem when, after one of their weekly lunches, the three friends stroll around a furniture store, where Camille is entranced by a gorgeous chair she can’t possibly afford.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2026
The story unfolded as the wheels of the cassette turned, and Joseph was entranced by this tale of a boy and his brother aboard a ship at sea.
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
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.
