fascination
Americannoun
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the power or action of fascinating.
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the state or an instance of being fascinated.
They watched in fascination.
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a fascinating quality; powerful attraction; charm.
the fascination of foreign travel.
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Cards. a form of solitaire.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fascination
1595–1605; < Latin fascinātiōn- (stem of fascinātiō ) a bewitching. See fascinate, -ion
Explanation
If diamondback turtles hold a certain fascination for you, you know everything there is to know about them, you talk about them all the time, and maybe you've embroidered one on your pillowcase. Fascination is an irresistible attraction. Be careful to use the right preposition: you've got a fascination with handsome princes, but handsome princes hold a fascination for you. When you have a fascination, it's as if you're bewitched, and — what do you know? — the word goes back to the Latin fascinare, which means "cast a spell on."
Vocabulary lists containing fascination
The Cay
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"The Witch Boy" by Molly Knox Ostertag
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Schooled
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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:
At 45, Kim Kardashian’s love life still generates just as much public fascination as it did 20 years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
The global fascination for Messi extends well beyond Argentina's own supporters and underlines that this World Cup is about more than just one nation's pursuit of silverware.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
The fact that my son and his girlfriend live in Kansas City certainly helped spark our newfound fascination.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Even the news that his wife, Usha Vance, is pregnant the fourth time has not slowed the fascination with their marriage.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
Sitting in a lion baby seat at Mrs. B’s sock-covered feet, Sabrina stared with intense fascination.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Maybe the only purpose in any of this is to prolong morbid fascinations, to twist the knife.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
One of the eternal fascinations of Test cricket, especially in these Bazballistic times, is that there are almost infinite ways for interpreting what has happened.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024
Take Giamatti’s new podcast, Chinwag, in which he and author Stephen Asma follow their fascinations with things think Sasquatch.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
Sharon Tate’s life and death became an alluring portrait upon which to hang our what-ifs and darker fascinations.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2023
For the nature which the thought of such a life had charmed was of all natures the one most open to worldly fascinations.
From The Abbess Of Vlaye by Weyman, Stanley J.
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.
