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Am I fascinated with consumer technology or fascinated by it? What about a book, an object, or a philosophical idea?

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up vote 7 down vote accepted

With: If the object of the fascination is something that can be held, handled, or manipulated (Rubik's cube for example), then someone can be fascinated "with" it.

I was fascinated with his car.

By: If - for example - someone is reading an interesting article, they may be fascinated "by" it.

I was fascinated by her voice.

See here.

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What about a philosophical idea? This is a "thing", but not something you can hold. Or "consumer technology"? This is a class of things, so which does it fit in? – Ric Levy May 27 '11 at 15:12
I'll use by with both of them. They're ideas or concepts rather than being physical things. I checked Oxford, Webster and Longman. All were using examples using "by". – Manoochehr May 27 '11 at 15:16
What about Japan? Can I be both fascinated with Japan and fascinated by Japan because it's a thing and a whole bunch of ideas? – George Pompidou Nov 11 '15 at 3:29

protected by tchrist Feb 22 '15 at 16:08


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