From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fascination \Fas'ci*na"tion\, noun [L. fascinatio; cf. F. fascination.]
1. The act of fascinating, bewitching, or enchanting; enchantment; witchcraft; the exercise of a powerful or irresistible influence on the affections or passions; unseen, inexplicable influence.
The Turks hang old rags . . . upon their fairest horses, and other goodly creatures, to secure them against fascination. --Waller.
2. The state or condition of being fascinated.
3. That which fascinates; a charm; a spell.
There is a certain bewitchery or fascination in words. --South.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror) [syn: {captivation}]
2: a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual [syn: {captivation}, {enchantment}, {enthrallment}]
3: the capacity to attract intense interest; "he held the children spellbound with magic tricks and other fascinations"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
132 Moby Thesaurus words for "fascination": admiration, affinity, agacerie, allure, allurement, amaze, amazement, animal magnetism, appeal, astonishment, astoundment, attraction, attractiveness, awe, awesomeness, bedevilment, beguilement, beguiling, beguilingness, bent, bewilderment, bewitchery, bewitchment, bias, blandishment, breathless wonder, bug, cajolery, captivation, charisma, charm, charmingness, come-hither, complex, compulsion, craze, crazy fancy, draw, dumbfoundment, enchantingness, enchantment, enthrallment, enthusiasm, enthusiasticalness, enticement, enticingness, entrancement, entrapment, extraordinariness, fancy, favor, fixation, fixed idea, flirtation, forbidden fruit, furor, furore, glamorousness, glamour, hang-up, hypercathexis, idee fixe, illusion, inclination, inducement, infatuation, influence, interest, inveiglement, invitation, irresistible impulse, leaning, magic, magnetism, mania, manic-depressive psychosis, marvel, marveling, marvelousness, maya, miraculousness, monomania, morbid drive, mutual affinity, mutual attraction, mysteriousness, mystery, numinousness, obsession, obsessive compulsion, partiality, passion, penchant, phenomenalness, possession, predilection, preference, preoccupation, prepossession, proclivity, prodigiousness, propensity, pull, puzzlement, rage, remarkableness, ruling passion, seducement, seduction, seductiveness, sense of mystery, sense of wonder, sex appeal, snaring, sorcery, stupefaction, stupendousness, surprise, sympathy, tantalization, temptation, tic, turn, winning ways, winsomeness, witchcraft, witchery, wonder, wonderfulness, wonderment, wondrousness, wooing
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