Meaning
To hold someone's complete attention as if by a spell; to hypnotize or transfix. The word began as a literal medical term for inducing a trance through Franz Mesmer's animal magnetism, but modern use is figurative, describing riveting fascination rather than actual hypnosis. Register is neutral to admiring, common in reviews of performers, speakers, athletes, and scenery. Neutral to positive, often slightly heightened; standard in arts and sports journalism. Regional use: General English (eponym; source practice 1780s Paris).
Origin
From Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), a Swabian physician whose therapy of animal magnetism made him the toast of 1780s Paris, with Queen Marie Antoinette among his defenders. His technique was dubbed mesmerism - Merriam-Webster notes a student applied his name to it in 1784 - and the English noun is recorded from 1798. The verb, a back-formation meaning to subject someone to mesmerism, is dated 1819 by Etymonline and 1829 by Merriam-Webster. Once mesmerism was reinterpreted as early hypnotism, the verb weakened into today's sense of spellbinding captivation, figurative by 1862.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- mesmeric
- mesmerise (British)
- mesmerised
- mesmerism
- mesmerizing
Usage Examples
- The violinist mesmerized the audience for two full hours.
- We stood mesmerized as the fog kept dissolving and reforming around the bridge.
- Her footage of deep-sea creatures mesmerizes even the most restless students.