en·thrall

(ĕn-thrôl′)

tr.v. en·thralled, en·thrall·ing, en·thralls

1. To hold spellbound; captivate: The magic show enthralled us.

2. To enslave.

[Middle English, to put in bondage : en-, causative pref.; see en-¹ + thrall, slave; see thrall.]

en·thrall′ing·ly adv.

en·thrall′ment n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

enthrallment - a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual

enchantment, fascination, captivation

liking - a feeling of pleasure and enjoyment; "I've always had a liking for reading"; "she developed a liking for gin"

enthrallment

noun

Total occupation of the attention or of the mind:

absorption, engrossment, immersion, preoccupation, prepossession.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

The enthrallment of Icarus is seen as a fatal distraction and relegated to a cautionary tale.

Rescuing Icarus: The Problems and Possibilities of "Air-Mindedness"

Since Jane's enthrallment is a response to these reasons, it is plausibly fitting.

REASONS: WRONG, RIGHT, NORMATIVE, FUNDAMENTAL

It is a communion of emotions joy, peace, awe, enthrallment. It is a faith-lift experience mysterious, surreal and divine.

Merry Christmas from Bethlehem

For a modern enthrallment, the tour could not be completed without visiting EL-Gouna in Hurghada.

10 American bloggers explore Egypt's beauty

However, by the end of the midsection his authoritative and professional concern for Michael gives way to a submissive enthrallment to him.

Ambivalence and Its Implications from the Standpoints of Modern and Postmodern Ethics in Coetzee's Life and Times of Michael K

Our collective enthrallment with Noah's big day in Buffalo (the event's attendees couldn't arrange transportation to Grand Island itself) epitomizes our sometimes outsized eagerness to assign symbolic meaning and historical significance to Jewish American texts and experiences.

PARKING THE ARK IN NIAGARA FALLS: MORDECAI MANUEL NOAH AND THE IMPOSITION OF MEANING IN JEWISH AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY

The strongest writing found in the Cambridge Companion and Beat Drama (and throughout Melehy's book) sets a standard of analysis that helps separate Beat scholarship from repetition of received wisdom or enthrallment to Beat myth.

The Cambridge Companion to the Beats

Toward a conclusion, the works collectively indicate a shared enthrallment with the plants' seemingly miraculous ability to return from states of near-death, as visually signified by the withering and browning of foliage.

A comparative history of resurrection plants

Her achievement lies in her ability to narrate a text that forces her to confront Enthrallment, she is as Angela Hall-Godsey says: "Jane is the power behind her own narrative" (Hall-Godsey, 2008: 44).

Victorian women in literature

It occurred to me that perhaps their enthrallment with James Bond and the arrival of young, untrained volunteers bringing only good English and good intentions were part-and-parcel of the same thing: a blatant promotion of Western culture and Western values over their own.

THE FAR COUNTRY: MEMORIES OF A CUSO VOLUNTEER IN SARAWAK, 1966-1968