TRANCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does trance mean? 

• TRANCE (noun)
  The noun TRANCE has 2 senses:

1. a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation

2. a state of mind in which consciousness is fragile and voluntary action is poor or missing; a state resembling deep sleep

  Familiarity information: TRANCE used as a noun is rare.

• TRANCE (verb)
  The verb TRANCE has 1 sense:

1. attract; cause to be enamored

  Familiarity information: TRANCE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

enchantment; spell; trance

Hypernyms ("trance" is a kind of...):

mental condition; mental state; psychological condition; psychological state ((psychology) a mental condition in which the qualities of a state are relatively constant even though the state itself may be dynamic)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trance"):

possession (being controlled by passion or the supernatural)

captivation; fascination (the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror))

Derivation:

trance (attract; cause to be enamored)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A state of mind in which consciousness is fragile and voluntary action is poor or missing; a state resembling deep sleep

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("trance" is a kind of...):

unconsciousness (a state lacking normal awareness of the self or environment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trance"):

hypnotic trance (a trance induced by the use of hypnosis; the person accepts the suggestions of the hypnotist)

ecstatic state; religious trance (a trance induced by intense religious devotion; does not show reduced bodily functions that are typical of other trances)

• TRANCE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Attract; cause to be enamored

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

becharm; beguile; bewitch; captivate; capture; catch; charm; enamor; enamour; enchant; entrance; fascinate; trance

Context example:

She captured all the men's hearts

Hypernyms (to "trance" is one way to...):

appeal; attract (be attractive to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "trance"):

hold (hold the attention of)

work (gratify and charm, usually in order to influence)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

trance (a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation)

 Context examples 

Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

For that matter, he was still in a trance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was indeed but a passing trance, that only made me feel with renewed acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Around it he saw several knights sitting in a trance; then he pulled off their rings and put them on his own fingers.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

There is passion, adoration, in his eyes, and he goes about in a sort of trance, gazing in ecstasy at the swelling sails, the foaming wake, and the heave and the run of her over the liquid mountains that are moving with us in stately procession.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A minute more, and this had roused me from my trance:—Steerforth had left his seat, and gone to her, and had put his arm laughingly about her, and had said, Come, Rosa, for the future we will love each other very much!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In trance she died, and in trance she is Un-Dead, too.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

So far as other affairs were concerned, he had been in a trance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I read in the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling level with my ears and the creaking of wood.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)