mesmerized

especially British, mes·mer·ised

[mez-muh-rahyzd, mes]

adjective

1. in a hypnotic or trancelike state; hypnotized.

   “I could create the odor of any kind of fruit and make a mesmerized person taste and smell it,” wrote 19th-century psychic Phineas Quimby.

2. having the attention completely absorbed; fascinated, captivated, or spellbound.

   At our first annual poetry slam, 28 students wielded their verbal prowess in front of a mesmerized audience of over 300.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of mesmerize.

Other Word Forms

• unmesmerized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mesmerized¹

First recorded in 1825–35; mesmerize ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; mesmerize ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

They’re mesmerized — many in tears — as they swing back and forth, jump up and down, and celebrate the collective experience of seeing her live.

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When Swift finally graced the screen to introduce the program, audience members were mesmerized.

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“Kathy’s such a magnetic performer that there were some residents who would start out playing their background role, and then Kathy would start her dialogue, and they were mesmerized and watching her,” Friedland says.

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Hernandez herself is just as coy, slipping in enough truth to snare the viewer and keep them mesmerized against a chilly, bare synth score.

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As warm spring weather and effusions of greenery spread across our disordered continent, Americans are understandably mesmerized by the widening chaos, unresolved conflict and bottomless corruption of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

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Related Words

• absorbed 
• aroused 
• delighted 
• enamored 
• enchanted 
• enthralled 
• excited 
• intoxicated 
• thrilled