Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The working of miracles or magic feats.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of performing something wonderful or marvelous; wonder-working; magic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act or art of performing something wonderful; magic; legerdemain.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The working of miracles
  • noun Magic; witchcraft, wizardry

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any art that invokes supernatural powers
  • noun an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek θαυματουργία, from θαῦμα ("miracle, wonder") + ἔργον ("work").

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Examples

  • Two brothers and the girl they both adore for different reasons collect on their mystical inheritance -- the knowledge of the reality-bending art called "thaumaturgy" -- just in time to save the world.

    Archive 2006-09-03 Miss Snark 2006

  • He deals with miracles as Renan deals with them, believing that credence in "thaumaturgy" will drop off from the human mind as credence in witchcraft has done -- that

    Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 12, No. 28, July, 1873 Various

  • At the mid-day halting-ground we saw a stone-mother nursing a rock-child, which might still be utilized in lands where "thaumaturgy" is not yet obsolete.

    The Land of Midian — Volume 1 Richard Francis Burton 1855

  • There are a lot of ways of showing magic in fantasy, ranging from the point-and-zap thaumaturgy that seems to be the general procedure for Harry Potter to the uncanny, archetypal forces at work of Last Call.

    I put on my robe and wizard hat « 2009

  • Bruno doesn't know why he learns so quickly - "My father never quite lost his touch of aboriginal uncouthness" - but under the tutelage of an autistic janitor and a very liberal-minded cognitive psychologist named Lydia Littlemore, he emerges from his "prelapsarian nudity" and enters the world of conscious thought, "the awesome thaumaturgy of mere language."

    Review of Benjamin Hale's 'Evolution of Bruno Littlemore': Aping human love Ron Charles 2011

  • It was also where the darkest of thaumaturgy often found a home, which was why Tranq had sent her.

    Petrol Queen snippet marshallpayne1 2010

  • Bruno doesn't know why he learns so quickly - "My father never quite lost his touch of aboriginal uncouthness" - but under the tutelage of an autistic janitor and a very liberal-minded cognitive psychologist named Lydia Littlemore, he emerges from his "prelapsarian nudity" and enters the world of conscious thought, "the awesome thaumaturgy of mere language."

    Review of Benjamin Hale's 'Evolution of Bruno Littlemore': Aping human love Ron Charles 2011

  • This comment was originally posted on Twitter thaumaturgy said at 4pm on Nov 16th # |

    The death of the URL | FactoryCity 2009

  • Did you mink you were the only ones who could make use of combat thaumaturgy?

    The Lives of Felix Gunderson Sugu Althomsons 2010

  • It doesn't understand sorcery, it doesn't understand spellsinging, it does not comprehend even the rudiments of thaumaturgy, and therefore cannot be affected by mem.

    The Lives of Felix Gunderson Sugu Althomsons 2010

Comments

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  • 'ability to work miracles'

    January 29, 2008