woo-woo

adjective

ˈwü-ˌwü 

: dubiously or outlandishly mystical, supernatural, or unscientific

And she has written a book … in which she dismisses what she calls "woo-woo spirituality" in favor of some straight talk on living with loss …

—Linda Richman

Energy beams from the eyes certainly sounds like woo-woo stuff …

—Steve Blow

woo-woo noun

One man's woo-woo, of course, is another's deeply held belief system.

—Julia Moskin

Examples of woo-woo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Twenty years after the book, however, Bali is no longer a wellness destination but the definitive global destination for wellbeing—in virtually every form, woo-woo to cutting edge. — Kathryn Romeyn, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Sep. 2026

Not so long ago, such inquiries belonged among the woo-woo subsect of our social dynamics and our literature. — Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026

Their movements become more spiteful than woo-woo, more sculpture than painting, more an argument than an idle thought. — Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026

Langley’s closest sonic predecessor, Kacey Musgraves, has long searched for transcendence—though in more woo-woo terms than Langley does, and with (on Musgraves’s lusty new album) the sort of neediness that often gets written off as cringe. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 23 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

probably from the interjection woo-woo as a conventional representation of an eerie or ghostly sound

First Known Use

1992, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for woo-woo

• accrue
• ado
• ainu
• aircrew
• airscrew
• anew
• askew
• baboo
• babu
• bamboo
• beaucoup
• bijou