fascination
Americannoun
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fascinations
plural
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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:
"His captivated, always improvised narration made that show the platonic ideal of natural history for me, and introduced a whole generation to the fascination of birds."
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Tom Hiddleston’s fascination with the classics drives “Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston,” a National Geographic series premiering on Wednesday for which the actor brushed up on his Latin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
"Our work helps explain our fascination with crystals and contributes to the understanding of the evolutionary roots of aesthetics and worldview," concluded García-Ruiz.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Hollywood’s fascination with YouTube creators is going to the next level.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
I told him about Mo's fascination with botany, and how he recorded every flower he found.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
It’s cast with some of the more attractive young people available, while the characters of “Sterling Point” looks like standard-issue teenagers with common fascinations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
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
The fact of these sworn foes being constantly here together, was in itself an indirect compliment to her fascinations.
From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Lewis Wingfield
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.
