Other Word Forms
Explanation
To be hypnotized is to have your attention captured, either by a hypnotist or anything captivating. When hypnotized, it's like you're under a spell. Hypnotists (if you believe in that sort of thing) have the power to capture people's attention and control them. Someone under a hypnotist's power is hypnotized, and the word is used for similar situations. If you can't put down a book, you have become hypnotized by it. People seem hypnotized when they are focused on something and can't look away. To be hypnotized is to be fascinated, mesmerized, spellbound, and transfixed.
Vocabulary lists containing hypnotized
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.
Adrift, alone and haunted by guilt about that incident in her past, she becomes hypnotized by Peter’s superficially rational-sounding ideas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
I’ve always been hypnotized by the sky, by the light and how light works with the clouds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
How deeply someone can be hypnotized -- known as hypnotizability -- appears to be a stable trait that changes little throughout adulthood, much like personality and IQ.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 4, 2024
As humans who fundamentally want to be happy and don’t want to suffer, we can choose not to be seduced and hypnotized by the excitement, greed and competitiveness of the tech wizards in Silicon Valley.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
Bate took out a duck from his vest pocket and, holding her in his arm, stroked her breast until she was hypnotized and calm.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
