different between incantation vs fascination

English

Alternative forms

• encantation

Etymology

From Old French incantation, from Latin incantatio. More at enchant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inkæn?te???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

incantation (plural incantations)

1. The act or process of using formulas and/or usually rhyming words, sung or spoken, with occult ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits, producing enchantment, or creating other magical results.
2. A formula of words used as above.
3. (computing, slang) Any esoteric command or procedure.
   • 1998, John Purcell, Robert Kiesling, Linux: The Complete Reference: Book 1 (page 412)

     The appropriate incantation of route is shown below; the gw keyword tells it that the next argument denotes a gateway.

   • 2017, James Pogran, Learning PowerShell DSC (page 11)

     Servers move from being special snowflakes to being disposable numbers on a list that can be created and destroyed without requiring someone to remember the specific incantation to make it work.

Related terms

• incanter

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin incant?ti?. Synchronically analysable as incanter +? -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.k??.ta.sj??/

Noun

incantation f (plural incantations)

1. incantation

Related terms

• enchanter

Further reading

• “incantation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /fæs??ne???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

fascination (countable and uncountable, plural fascinations)

1. (archaic) The act of bewitching, or enchanting

   Synonyms: enchantment, witchcraft

   • 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.
   • 1934, Robert Ervin Howard, The People of the Black Circle

     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.

   • 1913, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall, A Wayfarer in China

     But the compensations are many: changing scenes, long days out of doors, freedom from the bondage of conventional life, and above all, the fascination of living among peoples of primitive simplicity and yet of a civilization so ancient that it makes all that is oldest in the West seem raw and crude and unfinished.

3. Something which fascinates.

Derived terms

• dread fascination

Translations

References

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.si.na.sj??/

Noun

fascination f (plural fascinations)

1. fascination

Related terms

• fasciner

Further reading

• “fascination” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).