Select the most appropriate synonym of the underlined word in the given sentence. I was completely mesmerised by the performance.

Correct — D. Mesmerised means held spellbound — your attention fixed so completely on something that nothing else registers.

Fascinated, option (d), carries the same idea of absorbed, willing attention, and it fits the sentence unchanged: I was completely fascinated by the performance.

The other three all describe attention being lost or resented, which is the opposite direction from the one the sentence takes.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Bored — Bored is the direct opposite: attention gone because nothing holds it. A bored viewer is the one thing a mesmerising performance has failed to produce.
• (b)
  Irritated — Irritated means made impatient or annoyed. It describes displeasure at something, not the absorbed attention mesmerised names.
• (c)
  Annoyed — Annoyed means mildly angry. It says almost exactly what irritated says, and two options that mean the same thing cannot both be the single key.

Mesmerise comes from the name of Franz Anton Mesmer, the physician whose theory of animal magnetism gave English the word mesmerism. Its older sense is to hypnotise.

In ordinary use it has softened to holding someone's attention completely, and that is the sense a performance takes.

So the synonym you want is a word about absorbed attention, not a word about strength of feeling. Fascinated is that word.

Key facts

• Mesmerise means to hold someone's attention so completely that they notice nothing else.
• The word is formed from the name of Franz Anton Mesmer, whose animal magnetism gave English mesmerism.
• Fascinate carries the same sense of absorbed attention, which makes it the closest single-word match.

Common traps

• Reading completely as sheer intensity, so any strong feeling looks like a candidate
• Assuming a long or unusual word must be negative
• Choosing between irritated and annoyed instead of striking both out

No directly related past PYQ was found.