To magnetize something means to turn it into a magnet or make it magnetic. When you rub a steel needle repeatedly with a magnet in the same direction, you magnetize the needle. It becomes magnetic itself and can now attract paper clips or iron filings.

Scientists magnetize materials by aligning tiny magnetic regions inside them, called domains, so they all point the same way. Picture a crowd of people facing random directions: if you could get them all to face north at once, they'd create a powerful unified force. That's what happens when iron or steel becomes magnetized.

The word also describes attracting or fascinating someone so completely that they feel pulled toward something. A charismatic speaker can magnetize an audience, holding their attention as firmly as a magnet grips iron. When a new student magnetizes the whole class with interesting stories about living in another country, everyone wants to sit near them at lunch. A mystery novel might magnetize readers so thoroughly that they stay up late turning pages, unable to pull themselves away from the story.