enthrall means to enslave; to subjugate. It carries an Arena rating of 1657, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, enthrall ranks #363 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,437 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,749 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,008 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
enthrall is pronounced /ɪnˈθɹɔːl/.
Why “enthrall” is a great word
To hold the complete and fascinated attention of someone, as if by a spell. From Middle English *enthrallen*, from the prefix en- (meaning "to put into, make") + thrall (meaning "a slave, bondservant"), first attested in the 15th century. Unlike "captivate," which suggests a powerful but generally positive charm, or "mesmerize," which implies a hypnotic trance, to be enthralled is to be willingly, and often helplessly, taken into bondage—the child frozen before the storyteller's voice, the theatergoer gripping the armrests white-knuckled, the reader turning pages long past midnight. To be enthralled is to consent to one's own captivity, to find freedom in the chains of attention.
Etymology
From Middle English enthrallen. By surface analysis, en- + thrall.
verb
- To enslave; to subjugate.
- To hold spellbound.e.g.“Fancy, Jim, to be in love and play Juliet! To have him sitting there! To play for his delight! I am afraid I may frighten the company, frighten or enthrall them.” — 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 5, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:
- To make subservient.e.g.“[…] Who oft as undeservedly enthrall / His outward freedom: Tyranny must be;” — 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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