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to hypnotize

to hypnotize

25 5.2
To affect someone's thoughts or actions slowly without them noticing
  • verb
  • /ˈhɪpnəˌtaɪz/
  • US
translation icon : hipnotizar
  • And they let me because they were hypnotized.
  • get hypnotized
  • almost hypnotized
  • hypnotized people

Dialectical materialism, anti-Semitism, Nazism could spellbind and hypnotize mankind.

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Examples

  • I ignored my friends, neglected my studies, and became hypnotized by the sea.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • You're saying you just hypnotized all of us?

  • But the idea was hey, just hypnotize us and see where it goes.

  • Yeah, you had me hypnotized, Lost and found it turned around by the fire in your eyes.

  • Do you believe he hypnotized me?

  • You really hypnotized me, you know?

  • During the show, half the audience was hypnotized to believe they were in the Philharmonic.

  • As always, Shimon spoke with quiet passion, hypnotizing us with his vision and sincerity.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Crowds came to be hypnotized by the voice, the party anthems, the torchlight parades.

  • The magician used his skills to hypnotize the volunteers on stage, making them believe they were chickens.

Synonyms

to bewitch
vsto hypnotize
23 7.2

To attract and charm someone as if by magic

focuses on gradual psychological control rather than magic or charm
to mesmerize
vsto hypnotize
  • Specialized
3 7.2

Put someone into a sleep-like state where they follow suggestions

is a slower often unnoticed control of mind and actions

How Controlling

to brainwash
118 7.3
to hypnotize
  • US
25 5.2
to manipulate
382 6.1
to persuade
472 2.7
influence
806 2.3

Surface Forms

hypnotize infinitive
hypnotized past
hypnotized past participle
hypnotizing present participle
hypnotizes third person singular

Morphology

hypnotize = hypnosis (semi-transparent) = hypnot + ize

The morphological relation is clear, but this sense is an extended, metaphorical use ('influence or control') rather than the literal act of inducing hypnosis.

Etymology

The word hypnotize comes from the Greek root hypnos 'sleep' and the ending -ize 'to make', so it originally means 'to make sleep'. That's why we also say something can hypnotize a crowd when it slowly charms or controls their thoughts, as if putting them into a dreamy, sleep-like state.