MESMERIZE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mesmerize mean? 

• MESMERIZE (verb)
  The verb MESMERIZE has 2 senses:

1. attract strongly, as if with a magnet

2. induce hypnosis in

  Familiarity information: MESMERIZE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MESMERIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they mesmerize    ... he / she / it mesmerizes   
Past simple: mesmerized   
Past participle: mesmerized   
-ing form: mesmerizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Attract strongly, as if with a magnet

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bewitch; magnetise; magnetize; mesmerise; mesmerize; spellbind

Context example:

She magnetized the audience with her tricks

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

charm; influence; tempt (induce into action by using one's charm)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Induce hypnosis in

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

hypnotise; hypnotize; mesmerise; mesmerize

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

calm; sedate; tranquilize; tranquillise; tranquillize (cause to be calm or quiet as by administering a sedative to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "mesmerize"):

entrance; spellbind (put into a trance)

Sentence frames:

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

Sentence example:

Sam cannot mesmerize Sue

Derivation:

Mesmer (Austrian physician who tried to treat diseases with a form of hypnotism (1734-1815))

 Context examples 

The actual meteors are usually no bigger than a grain of sand, but when they hit the Earth’s atmosphere traveling at speeds upwards of 60 kilometers per second, they burn up in a mesmerizing color show of white, orange and green hues.

(Perseid Meteor Shower Provides Opening Act for Solar Eclipse, VOA News)