FASCINATING

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fascinating mean? 

• FASCINATING (adjective)
  The adjective FASCINATING has 2 senses:

1. capable of arousing and holding the attention

2. capturing interest as if by a spell

  Familiarity information: FASCINATING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FASCINATING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of arousing and holding the attention

Synonyms:

absorbing; engrossing; fascinating; gripping; riveting

Context example:

a fascinating story

Similar:

interesting (arousing or holding the attention)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Capturing interest as if by a spell

Synonyms:

bewitching; captivating; enchanting; enthralling; entrancing; fascinating

Context example:

a fascinating woman

Similar:

attractive (pleasing to the eye or mind especially through beauty or charm)

 Context examples 

Other clusters of stars seen below NGC 1333 in this image have posed a fascinating mystery for astronomers: They appear to contain stellar infants, adolescents and adults.

(Spitzer Studies a Stellar Playground With a Long History, NASA)

This fascinating icy plains region — resembling frozen mud cracks on Earth — has been informally named “Sputnik Planum”.

(New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’, NASA)

I was finding this conversation fascinating.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

And yet it is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease such a fascinating study.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep is a fascinating period when most of our dreams are made.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

"The migration of birds is particularly fascinating because small species primarily navigate alone, at night, and at high altitudes, so people do not always see it happening."

(New insights into genetic basis of bird migration, National Science Foundation)

This study uncovered fascinating mechanisms, including genetic duplications and acquisition of genes from other organisms, that enabled red algae to radiate throughout the world's oceans.

(Red seaweeds, including those in sushi, thrive despite ancestor's loss of genes, National Science Foundation)

The first one, tracing the history back to an unknown origin, is so fascinating.

(Swedish academy announces 2019 Nobel Prize winners in physics, Wikinews)

Why were the effects of hydrogen so fascinating?

(Asteroids, Hydrogen Make Great Recipe for Life on Mars, NASA)

To actually see this happening is fascinating.

(Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy, NASA)