hypnotic

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Origin:
1680–90; < Late Latin hypnōticus < Greek hypnōtikós sleep-inducing, narcotic, equivalent to hypnō- (variant stem of hypnoûn to put to sleep; see Hypnos) + -tikos -tic

Related forms

hyp·not·i·cal·ly, adverb

an·ti·hyp·not·ic, adjective, noun

an·ti·hyp·not·i·cal·ly, adverb

non·hyp·not·ic, adjective, noun

non·hyp·not·i·cal·ly, adverb

pre·hyp·not·ic, adjective

un·hyp·not·ic, adjective

un·hyp·not·i·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To hypnotic

Collins

World English Dictionary

hypnotic (hɪpˈnɒtɪk)

—*adj*
1.	of, relating to, or producing hypnosis or sleep
2.	(of a person) susceptible to hypnotism

—n
3.	a drug or agent that induces sleep
4.	a person susceptible to hypnosis

[C17: from Late Latin hypnōticus, from Greek hupnōtikos, from hupnoun to put to sleep, from hupnos sleep]

hyp'notically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

hypnotic

1625, "inducing sleep," originally used of drugs, from Fr. hypnotique "inclined to sleep, soporific," from L.L. hypnoticus, from Gk. hypnotikos "inclined to sleep, putting to sleep, sleepy," from hypnoun "put to sleep," from hypnos "sleep" (see somnolence). Modern sense

of "induced trance" first recorded in Eng. 1843, along with hypnotist, hypnotize, all coined by Dr. James Braid.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

hypnotic hyp·not·ic (hĭp-nŏt'ĭk)
adj.

Of or relating to hypnotism or hypnosis.
Inducing or tending to induce sleep; soporific.

n.
An agent that causes sleep.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

hypnotic

chemical substance used to reduce tension and anxiety and induce calm (sedative effect) or to induce sleep (hypnotic effect). Most such drugs exert a quieting or calming effect at low doses and a sleep-inducing effect in larger doses. Sedative-hypnotic drugs tend to depress the central nervous system. Since these actions can be obtained with other drugs, such as opiates, the distinctive characteristic of sedative-hypnotics is their selective ability to achieve their effects without affecting mood or reducing sensitivity to pain.

Learn more about hypnotic with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences

On others, the ghostly skeletons and hypnotic symmetries speak for themselves.

We build a story around our daily hypnotic induction especially when traumatic.

Toure and his group spun one hypnotic song after another.

There are still free minds and free thinkers, untainted by the hypnotic

machinery of the globalist empire.

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Matching Quote

"Films are seen in large, silent, darkened theaters, where intense light beams are projected from behind toward luminous surfaces in front. There is an enforced and anonymous collectivity of the audience because, for any screening, all viewers are physically present at the same time in the relatively enclosed space of the theater. In contrast to this cocoon-like, enveloping situation is the fragmentary, dispersed, and varied nature of television reception. The darkness is dissolved, the anonymity removed.... While the aura of cinema spectatorship produces hypnotic fascination, the atmosphere of television enables just the opposite—because the lights are more likely to be on, one can get up and return, do several things at once, watch casually, talk to other people, or even decide to turn the television off."

-Sandy Flitterman-Lewis