trances

plural of trance
as in reveries
the state of being lost in thought lulled by the sound of the train, she stared out the window in a trance, oblivious to the fact that the conductor was taking tickets

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of trances Unlike in Cutud, participants are mostly female faith healers adhering not to vows but to mystic trances and possession. — H.m.a. Leow, JSTOR Daily, 10 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trances
Noun
  • These rosy reveries gradually darken as Wilde remembers succumbing to hedonism, deceit, debt, and disgrace.
    — Hannah Aizenman, New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2026
  • The romantic reveries sometimes give way to things sillier and saucier.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 19 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • This helps warm up the imagination; daydreams, nightmares are easy ways in.
    — Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The songs on Purdy also have the tone of journal entries, detailing haggard trips to the grocery store, daydreams about his young daughters’ glamorous adult lives, and observations about the banality of oppression.
    — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 15 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Graham is a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, a professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, and a senior scientist at Gallup, whose World Poll supplied the data for her latest paper.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Earlier studies collected nearly 200 kill dates from beneath them—not one is older than 2,000 years.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 24 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Some opening day effects are long gone, such as the illusion created by actual shifting doors at the start of the attraction, or visions of tumbling rubble near its beginning.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Polls now show the two running neck-and-neck in a race marked by sharply different visions for Brazil’s economy, security and place in the world.
    — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • In the end, these conversations, and his own meditations on identity and family, as well as his noted narrative omissions and motives in telling the story, become the main thrust of the podcast.
    — Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The poem’s anguished meditations on love’s savagery and isolation are designed to draw blood.
    — Merve Emre, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • May talked about her gender but also what sounded like contemplations of self-harm.
    — Jo Yurcaba, NBC news, 18 July 2026
  • Selzer’s contemplations bring together literature, history, philosophy, medicine, and ruminations.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 May 2026
Noun
  • Dellucci and his teammates had fulfilled their personal dreams and made history as the fastest franchise to win a World Series.
    — Don Riddell, CNN Money, 26 Oct. 2026
  • The name draws on rapid eye movement, the stage of sleep associated with vivid dreams.
    — Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 25 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Trances.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trances. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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