ENTHRALL (enthralled, enthralling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: enthralled    , enthralling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does enthrall mean? 

• ENTHRALL (verb)
  The verb ENTHRALL has 1 sense:

1. hold spellbound

  Familiarity information: ENTHRALL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENTHRALL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they enthrall    ... he / she / it enthralls   
Past simple: enthralled   
Past participle: enthralled   
-ing form: enthralling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hold spellbound

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

delight; enchant; enrapture; enthral; enthrall; ravish; transport

Hypernyms (to "enthrall" is one way to...):

delight; please (give pleasure to or be pleasing to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The good news will enthrall her
The performance is likely to enthrall Sue

Derivation:

enthrallment (a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual)

 Context examples 

Holmes had shaken off his temporary ill-humour, and his characteristic talk, with its keen observance of detail and subtle power of inference held me amused and enthralled.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I dared not pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl with new emotion.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Mr. Micawber being now on the eve of casting off the pecuniary shackles that have so long enthralled him, said Mrs. Micawber, and of commencing a new career in a country where there is sufficient range for his abilities,—which, in my opinion, is exceedingly important; Mr. Micawber's abilities peculiarly requiring space,—it seems to me that my family should signalize the occasion by coming forward.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Having described, in general terms, their course from the main river up to the time that they actually reached the base of the cliffs, he enthralled his hearers by his account of the difficulties encountered by the expedition in their repeated attempts to mount them, and finally described how they succeeded in their desperate endeavors, which cost the lives of their two devoted half-breed servants. (This amazing reading of the affair was the result of Summerlee's endeavors to avoid raising any questionable matter at the meeting.)

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was enthralled by the strange story which my companion was whispering into my ear, while all the time his keen eyes were shooting in every direction and his hand grasping his cocked rifle.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)