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.
When an actor pretends to be hypnotized by another actor on film, the urge to applaud is not overwhelming.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 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
“And then I just opened up to her, as if she had hypnotized me.”
From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2023
The crowd yelled and I laughed in response as though hypnotized.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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.
