incantation

noun

ˌin-ˌkan-ˈtā-shən How to pronounce incantation (audio)
Definition of incantationnext
as in spell
a spoken word or set of words believed to have magic power hovering over the sick child, the witch doctor muttered mysterious incantations

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 incantation 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 There is a bopping, rhythmic assonance to Ginsberg’s unspooling lines, more incantation than poetry. — Literary Hub, 3 June 2026 As prospective farmers struggled to clear forests for rice fields in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Malaya, their efforts might have been accompanied by mystical incantations like this invocation against Iblis, the Devil in Islamic tradition. — H.m.a. Leow, JSTOR Daily, 24 Apr. 2026 With the bullet spinning faster and faster like some kind of magical incantation. — Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 10 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for incantation
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incantation
  1. spell
  2. invocation
  3. curse
Noun
  • After a tough spell, a cup run would do just that — and give those supporters a chance to dream again.
    — Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • This would be equivalent to creative writing streams of consciousness to hitting the spell check button!
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of spell
Noun
  • The discovery process may very likely run up against White House invocation of executive privilege, but the network suggests that there is already proof out in the open.
    — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 21 Aug. 2026
  • His recent invocation of the Fifth Amendment during congressional testimony is linked to avoiding revelations about suppressing the lab leak theory.
    — Ian Dexter Palmer, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of invocation
Noun
  • She and Kidman reprise their roles as sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, witches in Massachusetts who must once more confront a family curse that causes the deaths of men whom women in their family fall in love with.
    — Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Along with the town’s hard-drinking fisherman Wyck (Root), and the town hall staff of Patricia (O’Flynn), Rosemary (Dickey) and Dale (Hiller), Loftis tries to ignore a centuries-old island curse while attracting tourists to the island.
    — Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of curse

Browse Nearby Words

incandescently
incantation
incantations
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Cite this Entry

“Incantation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incantation. Accessed 28 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on incantation

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about incantation

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