fascinating
Americanadjective
adjective
-
arousing great interest
-
enchanting or alluring
a fascinating woman
Other Word Forms
- fascinatingly adverb
- half-fascinating adjective
- half-fascinatingly adverb
- quasi-fascinating adjective
- quasi-fascinatingly adverb
- unfascinating adjective
Etymology
Origin of fascinating
First recorded in 1640–50; fascinat(e) + -ing 2
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.
On the broader economic outlook, Walsh said India would be "a fascinating economy to watch in the years ahead", expressing confidence in its growth trajectory.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
"The idea that this small compound, which people have barely heard of, plays such an important role, is fascinating."
From Science Daily • Apr. 7, 2026
Humira is just one example, but it’s a fascinating case study for understanding how healthcare costs have gotten so horribly out of control and what’s needed to fix it.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026
Captive in bucolic panopticons, their lives are at once aesthetically alluring, depressingly regressive and anthropologically fascinating.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
They were, to a degree that would have been fascinating in less trying circumstances, stupid, obnoxious, cheerfully but astonishingly self-absorbed, and not remotely acquainted with trail etiquette.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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.
