as in amulet
something worn or kept to bring good luck or keep away evil
he wore a small phylactery on a cord around his neck
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Recent Examples of phylactery
Under the chin was the amulet, also known as a phylactery, likely worn around the person's neck.
—
Max Hauptman, USA TODAY, 18 Dec. 2024
Known as a phylactery, this type of amulet served as a kind of container to hold objects believed to be imbued with magical properties that were intended to protect the wearer.
—Tim Ryan, Newsweek, 18 Dec. 2024
Popular images of Jewish men worshiping at the wall in prayer shawls and phylacteries show only a small stretch of the ancient retaining wall for the Temple Mount.
—David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, 30 Oct. 2017
Max Hauptman, USA TODAY, 18 Dec. 2024
Known as a phylactery, this type of amulet served as a kind of container to hold objects believed to be imbued with magical properties that were intended to protect the wearer.
—Tim Ryan, Newsweek, 18 Dec. 2024
Popular images of Jewish men worshiping at the wall in prayer shawls and phylacteries show only a small stretch of the ancient retaining wall for the Temple Mount.
—David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, 30 Oct. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phylactery
Noun
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Last year, archaeologists found 337 coins – many containing a Cleopatra image – along with oil lamps, an amulet, and vessels for storing food and cosmetics.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
26 Sep. 2025
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Natron bubbling out of pale saline lakes in the Wadi Natron (west of the Nile) was used in making the blue glaze faience for amulets such as Taweret’s and the scarab beetles such as those produced in a delta factory.—
Vanessa Taylor,
Big Think,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Kane is the goalscorer and all-round talisman, Olise the drifting, carrying playmaker and Gnabry the dynamic generalist.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
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To explain these distortions, experts speculate that the figures served as fertility talismans—designed to maximize those parts of the body that evolution has encoded us to see as signs of optimal child-bearers.—
Harmon Siegel,
Artforum,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Phylactery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phylactery. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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