Dictionary

fascinator en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English fascinate Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin -ātor Old French -eorbor. Middle English -our ▲ Latin -torlbor. English -or English fascinator From fascinate + -or.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:literal) A fascinating person or thing.
   • A more repellent personality would be hard to imagine, and yet Hedda Gabler is one of the eternal fascinators of the world stage. 2009 January 18, Charles Isherwood, “Hedda Forever: An Antiheroine for the Ages”, in New York Times:
2. A delicate, often frivolous head decoration worn on the hair, primarily by women.
   • Westminster Abbey was peppered with everything from neat pillbox hats to netted fascinators. 2023 May 6, Chloe Mac Donnell, “Coronation fashion sprang few surprises – but all eyes were on Penny Mordaunt”, in The Guardian:
   • On a recent night when I visited, a group of girls had taken over an entire section, all of them wearing black fascinators as if attending a funeral. The hostess explained that it was a young woman named Mallory’s “RIP to my 20s” birthday dinner. 2025 May 5, Brock Colyar, “It Must Be Nice to Be a West Village Girl”, in New York, archived from the original on 19 May 2025:
   • Why, for example, was Lady Gaga the first act? Surrounded by pink ostrich feathers and wearing a fascinator that looked like a feather quill atop her head, she put on her best French accent to sing Mon truc en plumes (originally by Zizi Jeanmaire) but it still looked like a scrappy, tacky, riverbank cabaret by an American pop star. 2024 July 26, Arifa Akbar, “Paris Olympics opening ceremony review – soaring ambition deflated by patchy delivery”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
3. (US, dated) A type of wool or lace headscarf.

Forms

Deriveds

hatinator · fascinatress