hypnotize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put in the hypnotic state.
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to influence, control, or direct completely, as by personal charm, words, or domination.
The speaker hypnotized the audience with his powerful personality.
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to frighten or startle so that movement is impossible.
The headlights hypnotized the deer and it just stood staring at the oncoming car.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to induce hypnosis in (a person)
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to charm or beguile; fascinate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hypnotize
Explanation
When you hypnotize someone, you draw him into a mental state that is receptive to suggestion. If you are looking to break a bad habit like cigarette smoking, ask someone to hypnotize you. To hypnotize is to induce a calm, focused state in one's self or in another person. The state is called hypnosis, and a person who can do this for someone else is a hypnotist. The word hypnotize comes from the Greek hypnotikos, "inclined to sleep or putting to sleep," and popular ideas of hypnosis reflect a kind of half-asleep state. In reality, when you hypnotize someone, the person remains awake and intently focused.
Vocabulary lists containing hypnotize
Freak the Mighty
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Persepolis
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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.
Watching a trickster hypnotize someone in a live performance might impress you.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
The metallic colors on stage will blur and shine and hypnotize in HD just as well as they did live, and it will feel like luxuriating in a mixed metaphor just as it did live.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2023
I assume he will now hypnotize himself in front of the nearest screen during breakfast instead of asking questions about what he just read.
From Washington Post • Feb. 10, 2023
Called the Lasso of Truth, it can hypnotize those in its constraints, return memories, squeeze out the truth or protect people.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2022
Like maybe he thought if he repeated my name enough times, he’d hypnotize me into trusting him better.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
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.
