hypnotize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put in the hypnotic state.
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to influence, control, or direct completely, as by personal charm, words, or domination.
The speaker hypnotized the audience with his powerful personality.
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to frighten or startle so that movement is impossible.
The headlights hypnotized the deer and it just stood staring at the oncoming car.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to induce hypnosis in (a person)
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to charm or beguile; fascinate
Other Word Forms
- half-hypnotized adjective
- hypnotizability noun
- hypnotizable adjective
- hypnotization noun
- hypnotizer noun
- rehypnotize verb (used with object)
- unhypnotizable adjective
- unhypnotize verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of hypnotize
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.
Watching a trickster hypnotize someone in a live performance might impress you.
It’s this hypnotizing thing that I would observe and take note of whenever I was on the same route.
From Los Angeles Times
It’s impossible to watch “Die My Love” and not be hypnotized by its swampy psychodrama: the violent postpartum death throes of a marriage that has little reason to continue.
From Los Angeles Times
Stewart slowly waved his finger across his face, as if hypnotizing viewers.
From Salon
In the segment, Stewart mimicked hypnotizing viewers while repeating the admin’s mantra.
From Salon
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.
