Synonyms of riveted

riveted

verb

past tense of rivet

as in focused

to fix (as one's attention) steadily toward a central objective

everyone riveted their eyes on the trick that the magician was performing on stage

Synonyms & Similar Words

• focused
• concentrated
• fastened
• centered
• trained
• pointed
• aimed
• nailed
• directed
• leveled
• attended
• set
• heeded
• obsessed (over)
• zeroed (in on)
• honed in (on)
• homed (in on)
• minded
• fixated (on)
• refocused

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of riveted

Los Angeles filmmaker and artist Stanya Kahn stared, riveted, at her screen in the first hours after news of the killing emerged, and immediately began screen-grabbing results, knowing something important was happening. — Brian Boucher, ARTnews.com, 10 Sep. 2026

The back-and-forth is the latest twist in a corporate saga that has riveted Hollywood in recent months. — Daniel Arkin, NBC news, 24 Aug. 2026

Archaeologists found charcoal, animal bones (none of them chicken bones), Carhartt buttons dating back to the first half of the 20th century and a shovel head that appeared to have been re-riveted by hand multiple times before it was discarded. — Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman, 13 Aug. 2026

The case riveted the public and spawned true crime documentaries, podcasts and books. — Dianne Gallagher, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2026

Eating disorders can carry what Scaringi calls a whiff of the salacious, and feeling riveted by someone’s changing body isn’t the same as caring about their well-being. — Angela Haupt, Time, 5 Aug. 2026

Carter had been weakened by the Iran hostage crisis, which had riveted the country for the previous year, but the Reagan campaign worried that if Carter secured a hostage release just before voters headed to the polls, the election would be his. — Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 July 2026

But like many other Venezuelans, I am riveted by the pictures of endless rubble, of buildings whose facades have collapsed, displaying the rooms inside like dioramas of life before disaster. — Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 1 July 2026

Betty Kovacs, the eldest daughter of comedian Ernie Kovacs who with her sister Kippie and stepmother, actress-singer Edie Adams, was at the center of a nasty custody battle that kept Hollywood riveted in 1962, has died. — Mike Barnes, HollywoodReporter, 29 June 2026