English Dictionary

Definition of “trance

trance (trɑːnsPronunciation for trance

Definitions

noun

  1. a hypnotic state resembling sleep
  2. any mental state in which a person is unaware or apparently unaware of the environment, characterized by loss of voluntary movement, rigidity, and lack of sensitivity to external stimuli
  3. a dazed or stunned state
  4. a state of ecstasy or mystic absorption so intense as to cause a temporary loss of consciousness at the earthly level
  5. spiritualism a state in which a medium, having temporarily lost consciousness, can supposedly be controlled by an intelligence from without as a means of communication with the dead
  6. a type of electronic dance music with repetitive rhythms, aiming at a hypnotic effect

verb

  1. (tr) to put into or as into a trance

Alternative Forms

ˈtranceˌlike adjective

Word Origin

C14: from Old French transe , from transir  to faint, pass away, from Latin trānsīre  to go over, from trans- + īre to go

Usage examples

  • The trance concerto continued for exactly a quarter of an hour.
    Zindell, David, The Broken God (1993)
  • I want people to shake their ass and shut their eyes and just trance out.
    NME (New Musical Express) (2004)
  • Behind her, a nun walked past, her head nodding in time as if she were in a trance.
    canada.com (2005)
  • Betty Meyler, from Boyle, Co Roscommon, says she "saw "herself perish in the 1912 tragedy while in a trance.
    Sun, News of the World (2002)
  • Here and there, the national trance has been disturbed.
    De Jong, Nicholas (ed), Bedside Guardian 38 (1989)

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