verb

• 1Cause (someone) to become motionless with horror, wonder, or astonishment.

  ‘he was transfixed by the pain in her face’

  More example sentences

  • ‘she stared at him, transfixed’
  • ‘I was transfixed, wondering if the lead singer was male or female.’
  • ‘At night I am transfixed by the gentle motion of the great hull accompanied by the hypnotic creaking of richly-grained wood.’
  • ‘We were transfixed, and used to wonder whether all the women in England were like that.’
  • ‘Kiko looks up almost painfully and I'm transfixed at the depth of horror I see in his blue eyes.’
  • ‘Shoppers in the High Street were confused by the police presence and scores of people were transfixed on the sky as the helicopter hovered above.’
  • ‘Will we ever know all the reasons why people are transfixed by these images?’
  • ‘If people were not transfixed on the band, they at least ceased to idly chatter.’
  • ‘I quickly asked her where the pain was, and while transfixing me with a hard look, she pointed to her chest.’
  • ‘She was transfixed by that veiled emerald gaze, frozen to the spot, unable to move.’
  • ‘If a story transfixes Sydney tabloids, then it transfixes me.’
  • ‘I was too transfixed on his twitch to let that happen.’
  • ‘No-one else seemed much moved by this, but I was transfixed.’
  • ‘I was transfixed by the jostling crowds, the blasting horns.’
  • ‘At one point I even forgot the band were there, I was so transfixed with the visuals, which included lots of period footage of railways.’
  • ‘And I was transfixed, almost hypnotised by the grotesque scene in front of me.’
  • ‘I was transfixed with fear and the sheer beauty of the scene.’
  • ‘Nobody else even batted an eyelid, but I was just transfixed, with chills literally running up my spine.’
  • ‘By the time I got to the Mexican trip toward the end of the novel, I was transfixed.’
  • ‘As those of you who have seen gamelan dance can imagine, I was totally transfixed.’
  • ‘But we're simultaneously transfixed by the scale of the event, excited by its uncommon nature.’

  Synonyms

  mesmerize, hypnotize, spellbind, bewitch, captivate, entrance, enthral, fascinate, engross, enrapture, stun, stupefy, astound, grip, root someone to the spot, stop someone dead, stop someone in their tracks

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• 2Pierce with a sharp implement or weapon.

  ‘a field mouse is transfixed by the curved talons of an owl’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Alas for poor Bill, more arrows would soon pierce him than transfixed Saint Sebastian.’
  • ‘Plunging from his cheetah-drawn chariot, Bacchus looses arrows of longing from his eyes at Ariadne, and transfixes her in mid-flight.’

  Synonyms

  impale, stab, spear, pierce, spike, skewer, stick, gore, pin, bayonet, harpoon, lance, run through, puncture, perforate

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