How to Use incantation in a Sentence

incantation

noun
  • Because the incantation, in both pieces, is the language.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 18 May 2026
  • The names were an incantation, a way of proving her love for her father who loved real estate.
    — Caitlin Flanagan, The Cut, 14 May 2017
  • My own siren moment, this shirt imbued with an incantation that pulls people toward me.
    — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 2 Dec. 2022
  • Each one formed a part of her daily incantation to be present and open to all that came her way, however difficult.
    — Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2019
  • Yet the absence even of ritual incantation was both telling and alarming.
    — Ruth Marcus, The Denver Post, 23 Jan. 2017
  • When ‘Witchcraft’ comes, there’s that eastern-y lead sound, which feels like an incantation or the occult.
    — Jonathan Cohen, SPIN, 13 June 2023
  • Fireflies blipped and burned out, and the cicadas joined in an incantation that crescendoed into an ancient whirr.
    — Literary Hub, 15 Dec. 2025
  • Magic, the process of changing reality to your will through incantations, is done in this realm.
    — Helen A. Berger, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Its stretches of incantation turn into something like a sacred rite.
    — New York Times, 15 May 2022
  • Magic, the process of changing reality to your will through incantations, is done in this realm.
    — Helen A. Berger, The Conversation, 23 Feb. 2023
  • And has continued to be, even since her last incantation, which was 1999.
    — Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 31 May 2023
  • There's not a spell or hex or incantation strong enough to overturn Netflix's decision.
    — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, 22 Feb. 2018
  • Without Hermione's brains, Harry would never know which herb or incantation to use.
    — Ew Staff Updated, EW.com, 6 Mar. 2024
  • Circe is able, by means of drugs and incantations, to change humans into wolves, lions, and other animals.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 July 2026
  • There’s a little bit of mystery with the spirits, incantations and rituals.
    — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 4 Aug. 2025
  • Said Mohammed turns to oils, spices and incantations when he is called on to hunt down and expel a jinni that is causing harm to humans.
    — Justin Fornal, National Geographic, 29 Jan. 2016
  • There’s power in the recitation of ancient names and the act of incantation, karakia, is central to Māori culture.
    — Stacey Morrison, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2021
  • In different times and places, verses were uttered in unchanging words and rhythms, evoking the spell of an incantation or a curse.
    — Matt Schudel, Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2017
  • The effect, when it is sung in unison by a crowd of 80,000 people, is akin to a kind of incantation.
    — Tom Williams, New York Times, 9 June 2026
  • From that point on, conservatives followed the script, repeating the phrase like an incantation.
    — Barack Obama, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2020
  • The result is an ascetic style, well suited to both evisceration and incantation.
    — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2020
  • His words double as incantations, invoked to confer legitimacy and a sheen of artistry on any he that utters them.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 11 July 2023
  • Every man sitting in a new barber’s chair is praying and chanting an incantation to haircut Jesus to keep them safe in his arms.
    — Michael Harriot, The Root, 26 Oct. 2017
  • With the sun, Venus and Saturn hyping your work station, a simple mission statement can work like an incantation.
    — Minerva, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Oct. 2017
  • Three children evacuated from the Blitz complicate her life and the plot, which centers on a quest for the most potent incantation of them all.
    — Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2022
  • Though not technically a book, these incantations are collectively known as the Book of the Dead.
    — Deborah Vankin, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2023
  • As the lip-smacking, incantation-hurling Winifred, Midler gorges herself anew on the scenery and sometimes blasts it with lightning bolts.
    — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2022
  • The ground in front of the bench is worn smooth by years of visitors’ feet, and the tree is just steps from the incantations of an active nest of a Cooper’s hawk and red-breasted nut hatch.
    — Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times, 13 May 2017
  • Throw nothing away … Storms, crows, gunmetal drones, shouts, circadian incantations, mantras of healing expand in the box.
    — Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 13 July 2023
  • Cabin visitors fight protean spirits of the dead with a chainsaw, a shotgun and Egyptian incantations.
    — Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'incantation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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