exorcism
/ˈɛk.sɔɹˌsɪ.zəm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.89 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Master Hume, we are therefore prouided: / will her Ladyship behold and heare our Exorcismes?"
- "But in this part I am going to mention, it lay chiefly in the people deceived, or equally in both; and this was in wearing charms, philtres, exorcisms, amulets, and I know not what preparations, to fortify the body with them against the plague; as if the plague was not the hand of God, but a kind of possession of an evil spirit, and that it was to be kept off with crossings, signs of the zodiac, papers tied up with so many knots, […]."
- "The imputed virtue of folios full of knockdown arguments is supposed to reside in them, just as some of the majesty of the British Empire dwells in the constable’s truncheon. They are used in pure superstition, as old clodhoppers spoil Latin by way of an exorcism."
Etymology
From Old French exorciser, from Late Latin exorcizō, from Ancient Greek ἐξορκίζω (exorkízō, “to ward off, to charge under oath, adjure”), from ἐξ (ex) + ὅρκος (hórkos).
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɛk.sɔɹˌsɪ.zəm/
- British English: /ˈɛk.sɔː.sɪ.zəm/