spellbind
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spellbind
1800–10; spell 2 + bind, deduced from spellbound
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:
I saw him spellbind a room reciting Sophocles.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 11, 2023
And yet, onstage, under the pink LEDs, the dancers spellbind.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2020
“Throughout his life in jazz, Cecil continues to spellbind or infuriate listeners.”
From Reuters ● Apr. 6, 2018
Pennsylvania's bald-pated Governor John S. Fine journeyed to Philadelphia, showed up on the right day but in the wrong hall to spellbind a convention of the ladies' auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
From Time Magazine Archive
We here at the Mumbai Young Filmmakers Council are all in agreement that Miss Mehra possesses the unique ability to truly transform her characters on-screen in such a way as to spellbind her audience.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
Here are the main talking points after a spellbinding fourth round of the Six Nations.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
But she eventually brushed herself down and stunned the onlooking crowd with her spellbinding third run, her coach bursting into tears at the realisation of what Choi had achieved.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
Meant to be all-powerful and spellbinding, he comes across as merely eccentric.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Like the rest of Rebecca Zlotowski’s spellbinding film, this bit of character work in “A Private Life” — or, in its original French, “Vie Privée” — keenly marries French filmmaking with American sensibilities.
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2026
But there were other times when that emotion made him spellbinding and untouchable.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
A former professor of biology at the University of the South, Mr. Haskell has made a career of explaining the lives of plants to spellbound audiences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Wicked: For Good has received broadly positive reviews from critics - but many are far less spellbound than they were by the first film.
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2025
Within a couple of minutes, it snakes all the way back to the entrance, populated by doting parents and spellbound preteens hoping they arrived in time.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2024
Whitney Houston is luxury displaced, spellbound, chased away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
My sisters could not comprehend Tata Ndu’s word salad of French and Kikongo, so were merely spellbound by the presence of a celebrity on the porch.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
