To put someone into a trance-like state where they are highly suggestible and responsive to commands.
From Greek 'hypnos' meaning sleep, combined with the suffix '-ize.' The word was coined in the 1840s when the practice of 'mesmerism' was renamed by James Braid, who believed it involved sleep-like states.
Hypnotism was once considered magic or mind control, but scientists discovered it's more about your brain being in a relaxed, focused state—kind of like when you're so absorbed in a video game you forget to eat. Your brain isn't asleep; it's just tuning out distractions.
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