fascination

noun

Etymology: From Latin fascinare ("to bewitch"), possibly from Ancient Greek βασκαίνιεν (baskaínien, “to speak ill of; to curse”). Morphologically fascinate + -ion.

1. The act of bewitching, or enchanting

   “Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.”

2. The state or condition of being fascinated.

   “To my fascination, the skies turned all kinds of colours.”

   “Sliding down the shaft he lay still, the spear jutting above him its full length, like a horrible stalk growing out of his back. The girl stared down at him in morbid fascination, until Khemsa took her arm and led her through the gate.”

3. Something which fascinates.

   “Life after death had always been a great fascination to him.”

   “Though more thoughtful than Madame de Mercœur, yet it asked far more knowledge of society—that wilderness of small intricacies—for her to penetrate into the motives of those who seemed so suddenly struck with her fascination; but she was too clear-headed to be deceived, and set it all down under one general belief in caprice.”