hypnotic
UK /hɪpˈnɒ.tɪk/ · US /hɪpˈnɑ.tɪk/ adjective, noun
Forms hypnotics hypnotick
- adjective Of or relating to hypnosis or hypnotism.
- adjective Capturing a person's attention to the exclusion of all else, as if placing them into a trance.
- adjective (pharmacology) Inducing sleep; soporific.
- adjective (botany, obsolete) Dormant. “hypnotic seeds”
- noun A person who is, or can be, hypnotized.
- noun (pharmacology) A soporific substance.
Synonyms
Etymology
From French hypnotique (“inclined to sleep, soporific”), from Late Latin hypnoticus, from Ancient Greek ὑπνωτικός (hupnōtikós, “inclined to sleep, putting to sleep, sleepy”), from ὑπνοῦν (hupnoûn, “to put to sleep”), from ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having the quality of producing sleep; tending to produce sleep; soporific.
- adjective Of or pertaining to hypnotism; in a state of hypnotism; liable to hypnotism; as, a hypnotic condition.
- noun Any agent that produces, or tends to produce, sleep; an opiate; a soporific; a narcotic.
- noun A person who exhibits the phenomena of, or is subject to, hypnotism.
Etymology [Gr. somnus, and E. somnolent: cf. F. hypnotique.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hypnotic”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details