fortune teller

noun

variants or less commonly fortune-teller

ˈfȯr-chən-ˌte-lər 

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

ˈfȯr-chən-ˌte-liŋ 

noun or adjective

Synonyms

• diviner
• prophet
• forecaster

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

British pubs and a Korean honky-tonk Fifty years ago, a fortune teller told Mama Kim to open a country and western bar in Seoul. —Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2025

When the fortune teller’s predictions start to materialize, once cynical Gemma is ready to take a leap of faith. —Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 30 Sep. 2025

Hall’s clairvoyant was not your typical fortune teller. —Hikmat Mohammed, Footwear News, 20 Sep. 2025

For the next hour, Everest moved from fortune tellers to boxing matches to player pianos, laughing as mechanical wonders came alive. —Maggie Downs, Oc Register, 9 Sep. 2025

After a visit with an oddball fortune teller (Vanessa Bayer) during the bachelorette party, Anna switches with Harper while Tess ends up in Lily's body (and vice versa). —Brian Truitt, USA Today, 8 Aug. 2025

Even the youngest fortune tellers will be mesmerized by its sweet and tangy flavors. —Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fortune teller

• beller
• cellar
• dweller
• eller
• feller
• meller
• sellar
• seller
• sheller
• speller
• stellar
• bestseller

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