trance

¹ American  

[trans, trahns] / træns, trɑns /

noun

1. a half-conscious state, seemingly between sleeping and waking, in which ability to function voluntarily may be suspended.

2. a dazed or bewildered condition.

3. a state of complete mental absorption or deep musing.

4. an unconscious, cataleptic, or hypnotic condition.

5. Spiritualism. a temporary state in which a medium, with suspension of personal consciousness, is controlled by an intelligence from without and used as a means of communication, as from the dead.

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verb (used with object)

tranced, trancing

1. to put in a trance; stupefy.

2. to entrance; enrapture.

trance ² American  

[trahns] / trɑns /

Or transe

noun

1. a passageway, as a hallway, alley, or the like.

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verb (used without object)

tranced, trancing

1. to move or walk rapidly or briskly.

trance British  

/ trɑːns /

noun

1. a hypnotic state resembling sleep

2. any mental state in which a person is unaware or apparently unaware of the environment, characterized by loss of voluntary movement, rigidity, and lack of sensitivity to external stimuli

3. a dazed or stunned state

4. a state of ecstasy or mystic absorption so intense as to cause a temporary loss of consciousness at the earthly level

5. spiritualism a state in which a medium, having temporarily lost consciousness, can supposedly be controlled by an intelligence from without as a means of communication with the dead

6. a type of electronic dance music with repetitive rhythms, aiming at a hypnotic effect

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verb

1. (tr) to put into or as into a trance

Other Word Forms

• trancedly
  adverb
• trancelike
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of trance¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English traunce, trauns(e), “state of extreme dread, swoon, dazed state,” from Old French transe “passage (from life to death),” derivative of transir “to go across, pass over,” from Latin trānsīre, equivalent to trāns- trans- + īre “to go”

Origin of trance²

First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain; perhaps shortening of transit ( def. )

Explanation

If your eyes are open but you're not fully awake and in control, you may be in trance. Someone might have hypnotized you, or just a glimpse of your latest heartthrob might send you into a trance. Trances don’t have to be magic or mysterious — when you avoid facing your problems head-on, you’re creating your own trance. President Obama once said, speaking of America's decades-long dependence on foreign oil, "We cannot keep going from shock when prices go up, to trance when they go back down." He meant that when prices rise, we all complain, but when they fall, we forget we ever had a problem and refuse to change a thing.

Example Sentences

"I was in a trance," he said of the hours leading up to the great decider and, still, the biggest day in Scottish rugby, 36 years on.

From BBC • May 17, 2026

I must have been in a trance as I clicked through dozens of clips—fix-it videos, rescue-dog accounts, road-rage incidents, segments of “Justified” episodes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Notably, this trance is one of the few instances in the film when Lilian slips back into English.

From Salon • Jan. 18, 2026

She dances barefoot in a trance, her skin glowing with sweat, with her hair worn wild and loose.

From BBC • Dec. 28, 2025

Then silently, slowly, Inés Pérdido, wife of Gabriel Pérdido and mother of his two children, walked quietly past men, women, and children as if she were in a trance.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

Related Words

• coma
• rapture
• reverie
• stupor
• unconsciousness