Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Use of supernatural power over others through the assistance of spirits; witchcraft.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Originally, divination from the casting of lots; hence, the use of supernatural knowledge or power gained in any manner, especially through the connivance of evil spirits; magic art; enchantment; witchcraft; spells; charms.
Wiktionary
- n. Magical power; the use of witchcraft or magic arts.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Divination by the assistance, or supposed assistance, of evil spirits, or the power of commanding evil spirits; magic; necromancy; witchcraft; enchantment.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world
Etymologies
- From Middle French sorcerie, ultimately derived from Latin sors ("fate"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English sorcerie, from Old French, from sorcier, sorcerer; see sorcerer. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Some achieve their travel through what they call sorcery, others through dreams or some form of creativity.”
The Skrayling Tree
“And without the presence of a man, of course, women could not help but engage in sorcery, paganism, and lesbianism.”
The Huffington Post: Irene Monroe: Anti-gay bullying is today's witch-hunting
“Sword and sorcery is a guilty pleasure of my, especially when it comes to reading material (I'm not so good writing it), and normally the way I tackle an anthology is to read every story, start to finish, and then write about them all.”
“Sword and sorcery is back, with the same dark, violent and gritty verve that made it so appealing the first time around.”
“Cleo's sorcery is in her language, as abounding as good as varied as a difference a master gave to any of his creations.”
“Court physician Gaius, who also dabbles a bit in sorcery, takes Merlin under his wing and tries to guide the young acolyte in his use of magic.”
“Sword and sorcery is much more believable than steamy romance.”
“Sword-and-sorcery is birthed from a different tradition from, say, high fantasy.”
“His sorcery is startlingly fresh, page upon page ....”
An Amazon.com Books Blog featuring news, reviews, interviews and guest author blogs.
“Our second-rate mystic seeks the help of a genuine Native American mystic to save the poor woman and fend off the angry shaman, and a battle of science (and a little sorcery) vs. pure sorcery is launched.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sorcery’.
-
sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
-
ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
-
darren latson
education
sorcery, sorcerer, magic, wizardry, wizard, Sorcerer, Wizard, Wizardry, magician, mysticism, mystic, education and 5 more...
-
capitalcreative's Words
deviltry, visceral, cassanova, assuage, genesis, hot minute, osmosis, wistful, sublime, loathe, farfetched, newfangled and 283 more...
-
the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
-
Pretty Words
Words that sound pretty.
ethereal, ephemeral, iridescent, shimmer, wisp, whisper, charisma, crescent, azure, mystery, fantasy, miracle and 142 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
-
Why We Curse: WTF?
This list collects the magnificent collection of vocabulary of the article "What the F***? Why We Curse," by Steven Pinker, in The New Republic (Oct. 2007). I think I'm more impressed with the coll...
curse, language, earthy, ancient, unthinkable, thinkable, emotional, rhyme, meter, alliteration, pleasure, metaphor and 196 more...
-
je les adore!
fusillade, foal, celestial, abattoir, byzantium, berlin, casablanca, babylon, balkans, albion, avalon, between the devil... and 471 more...
-
my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
-
Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2263 more...
-
Setting the Scene: Dark and Dreary
Words that lend to the dark and dreary atmosphere of gothic literature.
dark, dreary, shroud, shrouded, veiled, skeleton, skeletal, dead, death, murky, gloomy, lugubrious and 274 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
gorgonglare's list
the best
zeppelin, ion, laconic, serendipity, cataract, saturnine, syzygy, cinnabar, bistro, lithium, paroxysm, scion and 694 more...
-
Magical moments
abracadabra, presto, open sesame, alakazam, incantation, spell, charm, chant, hocus pocus, legerdemain, occult, mystification and 24 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sorcery.
itz_chucknorris great word
Aug 27, 2012
oroboros An activity where spelling counts! :) Mar 16, 2009