FASCINATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fascination mean? 

• FASCINATION (noun)
  The noun FASCINATION has 3 senses:

1. the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror)

2. a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual

3. the capacity to attract intense interest

  Familiarity information: FASCINATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FASCINATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

captivation; fascination

Hypernyms ("fascination" is a kind of...):

enchantment; spell; trance (a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation)

Derivation:

fascinate (to render motionless, as with a fixed stare or by arousing terror or awe)

fascinate (cause to be interested or curious)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

captivation; enchantment; enthrallment; fascination

Hypernyms ("fascination" is a kind of...):

liking (a feeling of pleasure and enjoyment)

Derivation:

fascinate (attract; cause to be enamored)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The capacity to attract intense interest

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

he held the children spellbound with magic tricks and other fascinations

Hypernyms ("fascination" is a kind of...):

attraction; attractiveness (the quality of arousing interest; being attractive or something that attracts)

Derivation:

fascinate (to render motionless, as with a fixed stare or by arousing terror or awe)

fascinate (cause to be interested or curious)

 Context examples 

I could have done very well if I had been without the Murdstones; but the influence of the Murdstones upon me was like the fascination of two snakes on a wretched young bird.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When I returned from throwing them overside, he was talking to Harrison, whose honest yokel’s face was filled with fascination and wonder.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The old fascination of his neck was there, and there was sweetness in the thought of laying her hands upon it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The fascination of the light for the grey cub increased from day to day.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I saw the fascination of the locality.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

These features have evoked fascination and controversy since their 2011 discovery, as possible markers for unexpected liquid water or brine on an otherwise dry planet.

(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)

Amy especially enjoyed this high honor, and became quite a belle among them, for her ladyship early felt and learned to use the gift of fascination with which she was endowed.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such as the lairs of the Count have had.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could hardly resist the fascination of his manner.

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

She could thoroughly comprehend the sort of fascination he must possess over Lady Russell's mind, the difficulty it must be for her to withdraw her eyes, the astonishment she must be feeling that eight or nine years should have passed over him, and in foreign climes and in active service too, without robbing him of one personal grace!

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)