fascination
/ˌfasɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
1The power to fascinate someone; the quality of being fascinating: television has always held a fascination for me...
- The idea of "document" seems to have a promising fascination for the twenty-first century psyche.
- The Himalayan region has long held a particular fascination for the western mind.
- In the 1970s, the enthusiasm of many obstetricians for electronic foetal monitoring was in fact a real fascination.
Synonyms
interest, preoccupation, passion, obsession, compulsion, captivation, enchantment;
allure, lure, allurement;
charm, attraction, intrigue, attractiveness, appeal, magnetism, pull, draw
1.1The state of being fascinated: he had a lifelong fascination with science...
- I watched all the big fish with morbid fascination.
- I suppose we all have a fascination with death.
- He also expanded his concept of history into the contemporary period through a fascination with international affairs.
Usage
The two senses of fascination each take a different preposition. A person has a fascination with something they are very interested in (her fascination with the royal family), whereas something interesting holds a fascination for a person (words have always held a fascination for me). The Oxford English Corpus shows that the distinction is often blurred today, but it should be maintained in careful writing.