To hold someone's complete attention or interest; to fascinate or captivate utterly.
From en- (to cause to be) + captive (from Latin captivus, meaning 'taken' or 'imprisoned'), with -ate verb suffix. The meaning evolved to mean holding someone's attention as if they were mentally captured.
Great storytellers have the power to encaptivate audiences—when you're really into a book or movie, your brain literally releases dopamine as if you're actually experiencing those events yourself.
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