Witch

/wɪt͡ʃ/ · noun

Meaning

A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events, particularly one with malicious motives..

Definitions by Sense

1. A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events, particularly one with malicious motives.
2. A person who follows Wicca or similar New Age pagan beliefs.
3. (figurative, chiefly derogatory) An ugly or unpleasant woman.
4. One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.
5. One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.
6. (geometry) A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
7. A storm petrel.
8. Any of a number of flatfish of species:

Example Sentences

He cannot abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch.

It was easy to understand that they were witches, who had turned themselves into ravens.

However, the word "witch" came to be applied almost exclusively to women who were believed to achieve their power by making a blood pact with the Devil, sealed with their blood. They were usually old and ugly, and for this reason many unfortunate old ladies, whose only crimes were loneliness and a lack of beauty, went to the stake.

Recently in Sydney we met a male witch who claimed that witchcraft was his full-time occupation.

Several of the Leechbook recipes would have done credit to the witches in Macbeth.

To be considered a Witch of a particular tradition you will have to be initiated into that tradition by someone else within that tradition, after following their specific program of study.

For many neopagan witch traditions the moon is seen as both a symbol of the Goddess and of the witch's power, symbolically, and the belief is that the full moon is the best time for all acts of magic.

I hate that old witch.

Synonyms for witch

Antonyms for witch

Related Words

Word Forms

• witches
• witching
• witched

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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