exorcism

noun

Definition of exorcismnext
as in witchcraft

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of exorcism There’s a spirit of exorcism in this approach, an implicit belief that certain loud sounds are more like elemental beings to be summoned than the logical result of wires and inputs. — Jayson Greene, Pitchfork, 25 June 2026 People online were jokingly musing about ghosts being inside the LLMs or that the AI needed an exorcism. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 7 May 2026 But the trauma of their defeat in the final match of the 1950 World Cup to Uruguay was such that a change was necessary, like a sort of sartorial exorcism. — Nick Miller, New York Times, 17 June 2026 Unlike contemporaries such as Nirvana, a punk band that wanted to shred the patriarchal rock hegemony of the ’80s, and Pearl Jam, which functioned as an exorcism for the soul night in and night out, Corgan never hid his rock star ambitions. — David Harris, SPIN, 2 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for exorcism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for exorcism
  1. witchcraft
  2. sorcery
  3. necromancy
  4. divination
  5. wizardry
  6. witchery
  7. magic
  8. conjuring
Noun
  • That feeling is only intensified by Xang’s under-his-breath threats and twisted meditations that come across more like free-car witchcraft.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 26 June 2026
  • Starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, the film tells the story of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Catholic priest who was burned at the stake over accusations of witchcraft.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 22 June 2026
Definition of witchcraft
Noun
  • Come to Eternia, the mythical home of flying dragon-like creatures, and swords, and sorcery, and spaceships — really, all the stuff a 12-year-old science fiction fanatic loves.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 4 June 2026
  • Directed by Travis Knight and based on the Mattel media franchise, the sword-and-sorcery epic stars Nicholas Galitzine alongside Camila Mendes, Jared Leto, and Idris Elba, launching in over 300 locations on Wednesday June 3.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 2 June 2026
Definition of sorcery
Noun
  • The movie, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary on May 3, showed us how to use our magic and morals to decide whether to embrace necromancy and the occult.
    — Lisa Stardust, PEOPLE, 3 May 2026
  • Hedva’s practice cooks magic, necromancy, and divination together with mystical states of fury and ecstasy, and political states of solidarity and disintegration.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Jan. 2026
Definition of necromancy
Noun
  • The second part centers on tarot as a tool of divination and creative inspiration, beginning with the iconic 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck and moving on to art works from the twentieth century into the present day.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 May 2026
  • Diamond Seas presents plunderphonics as a form of divination, akin to spirit photography or automatic writing.
    — Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork, 27 Apr. 2026
Definition of divination
Noun
  • With some mathematical wizardry, the researchers described a periodic surface whose elements capture discrete components of polarized wavefronts.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 18 June 2026
  • Through two-and-a-half seasons, there have been a few thrills and plenty of VFX wizardry, but little innovation in storytelling or relevance.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 15 June 2026
Definition of wizardry
Noun
  • Enter kitchen witchery, a practice rooted in modern witchcraft that blends intention, ritual, and everyday cooking.
    — Cori Sears, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Ravn beautifully brings us inside these circles of care, which to many outsiders might have seemed as strange as witchery.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 Sep. 2025
Definition of witchery
Noun
  • Signaling what will be a frenetic week, Draymond Green opted out of his contract, ESPN reported Monday morning, sending alarm bells across the league that the Warriors could be cooking up cap magic to potentially lure James to the Bay Area.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2026
  • Not only is the city booming with routine plans for the 4th, but there's a special sort of magic in the air as this year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence being signed right here in Philadelphia.
    — Kaitlyn McCormick, USA Today, 30 June 2026
Definition of magic
Noun
  • Sure, the Oscar-winning makeup helps transform the actor into Cheney, but the voice and petulance are all Bale, whose conjuring of this scoundrel ought to trigger PTSD for anyone who survived the Dubya years.
    — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 7 Mar. 2026
  • In Pilkington’s conjuring, liberalism was a potent ideology that arose against monarchy and aristocracy and sought to rationalize social and political relationships.
    — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
Definition of conjuring

Browse Nearby Words

exorcising
exorcism
exorcisms
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Cite this Entry

“Exorcism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/exorcism. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on exorcism

Nglish: Translation of exorcism for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about exorcism

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