fascination

fascination
    n 1: the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or
         terror) [syn: {fascination}, {captivation}]
    2: a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual
       [syn: {captivation}, {enchantment}, {enthrallment},
       {fascination}]
    3: the capacity to attract intense interest; "he held the
       children spellbound with magic tricks and other fascinations"
    

Fascination \Fas`ci*na"tion\, n. [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.
      [1913 Webster]

            The Turks hang old rags . . . upon their fairest
            horses, and other goodly creatures, to secure them
            against fascination.                  --Waller.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The state or condition of being fascinated.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. That which fascinates; a charm; a spell.
      [1913 Webster]

            There is a certain bewitchery or fascination in
            words.                                --South.
      [1913 Webster]
    

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