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witchcraft

UK/ˈwɪt͡ʃkɹɑːft/US/ˈwɪt͡ʃkɹæft/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,074 of 15,258neutral

Witchcraft is the practice of magic, especially as attributed to women in older belief. Accused of witchcraft, practise witchcraft, a witchcraft trial.

The historical weight of the word is in the trials: tens of thousands of people, mostly women, were executed for witchcraft in Europe between about 1450 and 1750. Witch hunt is now used figuratively for any campaign against people on weak evidence. Modern Wicca is a twentieth-century religion whose members use witch positively. Note sorcery and magic, which are the neighbouring words and carry none of the same history.

John William Waterhouse · Public domain

Definitions of witchcraft

  1. 1nounwitchcraftThe practice of magic, especially by women in old belief.B2

    “Nineteen people were hanged for witchcraft in one summer.”

witchcraft is a practice of magic.

Where it comes from

Old English wiccecraeft is wicce, a witch, plus craeft, a skill — witchcraft is literally the witch's trade. Craft has meant both a skill and a cunning trick in English for a thousand years, which is why crafty means sly.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *weyk-

  2. Old English

    wiċċecræft

  3. Middle English

    wicchecraft

  4. English, today

    witchcraft

From Middle English wicchecraft, wicchecreft, from Old English wiċċecræft, equivalent to witch + -craft.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Myths & Legends, Fairy Tales & Folklore

Practise this word

witchcraft in the wild

  • The Malleus suggests torture to get confessions and death as the only certain way to end the "evils of witchcraft".

    Malleus Maleficarum

  • The book was later revived by royal courts during the Renaissance, which contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries.

    Malleus Maleficarum

  • Though the idea of witchcraft is largely imaginary, it has nevertheless served in many cultures as a way to explain the presence of evil.

    Witchcraft

  • Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by neighbors of accused witches, and followed from social tensions.

    Witchcraft

  • A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft.

    Witch hunt

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.