mesmerize
Americanverb (used with object)
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mesmerizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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mesmerized,
past participle, past
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mesmerizing
present participle
-
to completely capture the attention of; spellbind; fascinate.
This young pianist has mesmerized audiences with her incredible technique and range of musical expression.
-
to hypnotize or put into a trancelike state; cause (someone) to be open to the power of suggestion or unable to act on their own.
According to ancient myth, the song of the sea nymphs mesmerized sailors, drawing them into disastrous waters.
-
to cause or compel through fascination or by hypnotizing.
Advertising can easily mesmerize us into thinking that wealth is the same as money and possessions.
In this game scene, the warriors do not know they’ve been mesmerized into the service of the enemy.
verb
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a former word for hypnotize
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to hold (someone) as if spellbound
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mesmerizesimple
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mesmerizessimple
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have mesmerizedperfect
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has mesmerizedperfect
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am mesmerizingprogressive
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are mesmerizingprogressive
-
is mesmerizingprogressive
-
have been mesmerizingperfect progressive
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has been mesmerizingperfect progressive
Past
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mesmerizedsimple
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had mesmerizedperfect
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was mesmerizingprogressive
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were mesmerizingprogressive
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had been mesmerizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mesmerize
First recorded in 1820–30; back formation from mesmerism
Explanation
You meet someone and you can’t take your eyes off them, like you are connected by an invisible cord and can’t break free. Those kinds of people have the power to mesmerize, holding your attention like you’re under hypnosis. The word mesmerize comes from the last name of 18th century German physician Franz Mesmer, who believed that all people and objects are pulled together by a strong magnetic force, later called mesmerism. If you ever start to feel mesmerized, maybe it’s because you find someone fascinating, or maybe you’ve been hypnotized by a magician. Hard to tell from here.
Vocabulary lists containing mesmerize
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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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:
Or, in the case of credit cards, they mesmerize you with the many glamorous perks you can acquire, failing to note the debt you may accrue in the process.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2026
Still there is the natural arm talent that can mesmerize with effortless form and quick release.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
This was the first domestic event since CNN’s creation in 1980 to mesmerize the nation with saturation coverage by cable television.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2023
After multiple viewings, “Plot Point” still leaves me mostly mystified, and not intriguingly so; it doesn’t mesmerize in the way of her remarkable “Emergence.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 22, 2022
For a second the colors mesmerize me, bright green and deep blue and brown.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Not yet 30, the energetically self-assured German refugee soon mesmerizes the narrator and his four closest classmates—Aharon, Dan, Yair and Aya, the only female among them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Where “Arco” mesmerizes with its less-conventional animation style, “Little Amélie” employs swaths of eye-popping color, broad shapes and thoughtfully rendered two-dimensional art style and camera movements to bewitch slightly younger viewers.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2025
But what really mesmerizes are the windows, and the speculations they invite about who lives behind them.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2022
Recorded onto 8-track tape during one night’s performance, a half-century later it still mesmerizes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2021
The longer you look at evil the more it mesmerizes and defiles you into its own likeness.
From Days of Heaven Upon Earth by A. B. (Albert B.) Simpson
The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson later recalled being mesmerized by the album, the first record, to his mind, that didn’t have any filler.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Jiyoung Sohn and Timothy W. Martin review the case that has mesmerized South Koreans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Vesuvius in AD 79, he wasn’t just horrified, he was mesmerized, even excited; amid all that death it felt like the past was alive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
“Son of Sam just mesmerized everybody for a long period,” recalled Michael Oreskes, then a reporter for the Daily News, whereas “LaGuardia was a one-time thing that then nobody could explain, nobody could figure out.”
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Still the sleek brown head bent mesmerized over the list.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
The band closed out with their best song, the mellowly mesmerizing “Blue Coupe.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Challenged with creating movements that speak to character and story, layering a bold, physical narrative over a written one, this season’s Emmy-nominated choreographers made mesmerizing scenes come to life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
America’s most-loved fictional titans, Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne, have bottomless wealth to fund their vigilante adventures, making them especially mesmerizing to an audience raised on rags-to-riches fables.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Nicolas Winding Refn directs this inscrutable yet mesmerizing thriller that follows the converging stories of an actress, an American G.I., and a mysterious murderer called the Leather Man.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
His freakish stillness has a kind of mesmerizing quality to it.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
