fortune teller

noun

variants or less commonly fortune-teller
plural fortune tellers also fortune-tellers
: someone or something with the supposed ability to foretell future events and especially the details of a person's future
For thousands of years, people have gone to fortune tellers because they wanted to know whom they would marry or whether they were going to be rich or famous.Muse
Some of the fortune-tellers he encounters are ludicrously off the mark; others are uncannily accurate.Michael Upchurch
You do not have to be a fortune teller to realize that sneezes, sniffles, plugged up noses and red eyes will be making their appearance in most of our houses within the next two months.Glenn Haege
By the early 1900s it was possible to get a "psychic reading" from a mechanical fortune teller at the local penny arcade.Ralph and Terry Koval
sometimes, specifically : a child's toy that consists of paper folded into four pyramid-shaped parts which are manipulated by the fingers to open and close with each part having a flap that can be unfolded to reveal an answer to one's question about the future : cootie catcher
Some of the most commonly made folk toys are made of paper: fortune tellers (also known as cootie catchers), paper airplanes, spitballs shot through straws … Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun
Your child may choose to decorate the fortune teller … with stickers or drawings, or to color the outside squares instead of writing the name of a color. Sally Worsham
fortune-telling noun or adjective

Examples of fortune teller in a Sentence

the carnival's fortune-teller should have predicted that I'd pass right by her
Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Of course, time may be running out for our fortune teller—and for every witch who had the misfortune of joining Agatha’s quest. Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024 Explore the village and meet ghosts, witches, the Headless Horseman and a fortune teller along the way. Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 9 Oct. 2024 Trick or treat through the village and meet ghosts, witches, the Headless Horseman, and a fortune teller. Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 19 Sep. 2024 But Agatha All Along gives Hahn even more room to flex and vamp as Agatha’s hunt for a coven leads her to other witches like wellness guru Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), and security guard Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) — all of whom see her as a threat. Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge, 19 Sep. 2024 Divinations will be provided by the fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone, hitting all the right camp notes). David Fear, Rolling Stone, 18 Sep. 2024 More recently, courts have increasingly viewed bans on fortune tellers with skepticism on First Amendment grounds. Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 14 June 2024 One of those creepy mechanical fortune tellers found at the carnivals of yesteryear offers one of them the chance to return to life, setting up a showdown for the youths to make their case for living. Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel, 22 July 2024 Fest-goers can visit with fortune tellers and henna artists, explore the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and check out the French Bulldog kissing booth. Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 8 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fortune teller was in 1582

Dictionary Entries Near fortune teller

Cite this Entry

“Fortune teller.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fortune%20teller. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

fortune-teller

noun
for·​tune-tell·​er
-ˌtel-ər
: a person who claims to foretell future events
fortune-telling
-ˌtel-iŋ
noun or adjective

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