spellbound
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of spellbound
Explanation
To be spellbound is to have your attention captured by something, captured so strongly it feels like witchcraft. A spell is a type of magic that controls your mind, and being bound is being tied to something. Being spellbound is when your attention is caught by something, and you just can't look away, almost as if you were bound by a spell. An exciting movie can leave you spellbound. A great public speaker can hold the audience spellbound. When you're spellbound, your attention is on something 100%. Being spellbound is like being fascinated, hypnotized, mesmerized, or transfixed.
Vocabulary lists containing spellbound
The Secret Life of Bees
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Part 4 Vocabulary (Unit 6)
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The Sherlock Society
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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.
To find the city as spellbound by its basketball team, you have to go back to the 1970 and 1973 champions, with the likes of Walt Frazier, Willis Reed and smooth Earl “The Pearl” Monroe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
The spellbound astronauts pinned themselves to the windows, the first humans to see the far side of our nearest celestial neighbour.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025
But Las Vegas seems spellbound by the Super Bowl, which is making its first appearance in a place that the N.F.L., not so long ago, avoided to the point of parody.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
Whitney Houston is luxury displaced, spellbound, chased away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
I stayed at the window for the rest of the flight, spellbound, hunkered over a trash bag full of empty soda cans and half-eaten meals, my face pressed against the cold Plexiglas.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
