witches 1 of 2

noun

plural of witch
1
as in sorcerers
a woman believed to have often harmful supernatural powers the 17th-century house had once belonged to a woman who was hanged as a witch

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2
as in hags
a mean or ugly old woman a foul-tempered old witch who is constantly at odds with her neighbors

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3
as in mages
a person skilled in using supernatural forces freakish storms that were once thought to be the work of witches

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witches

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of witch, archaic
as in charms
to attract or delight as if by magic the woman did witch me with her gentle smile

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 witches
Noun
Bullock and Kidman reprise their roles as midnight margarita-sipping witches for the sequel, now guiding the next generation (played by new cast members Joey King and Maisie Williams) through the complications of making magic. — Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 26 Aug. 2026 Like Sally and her sister Gillian Owens, played by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in both films, the next generation of women in the family are witches, too. — Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 26 Aug. 2026 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 Black cats can be seen as bad omens, sometimes associated with witches and with the old superstition to not let a black cat cross your path. — Maddie Rhodes, USA Today, 17 Aug. 2026 Some Hoodoo practitioners have begun calling themselves witches, reflecting the increasingly positive reassessment of that term, which historically referred principally to practitioners of occult harming practices. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Aug. 2026 But a trio of witches — Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Glinda (Michelle Williams), and Theodora (Mila Kunis) — convince the interloper that Oz may actually be worth fighting for. — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 12 Aug. 2026 The story follows an aspiring witch, Coco, who finds herself in the center of an ideological conflict between two factions between the Pointed Hats and the Brimmed Caps witches. — Kalai Chik, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026 The woods could be hiding places of witches and sorcerers, disguised as the old and feeble, but capable of summoning wonder and terrors, charms as well as curses. — Literary Hub, 30 July 2026
Verb
Last year, Kardashians decorations took a spookier turn, with the reality star’s house being decorated with creepy floating ghosts, witches brooms and piles of pumpkins in shades of traditional orange — plus green, white and hues of brown — and covered in sprawling vines. — Kirsty Hatcher, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025 Are the owners actually witches? — R. Daniel Foster, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for witches
  1. sorcerers
  2. hags
  3. mages
  4. charms
  5. sorceresses
  6. magicians
  7. fascinates
  8. wizards
Noun
  • The Fore said that the disease was caused by secret attacks from sorcerers.
    — Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The woods could be hiding places of witches and sorcerers, disguised as the old and feeble, but capable of summoning wonder and terrors, charms as well as curses.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 July 2026
Definition of sorcerers
Noun
  • The island village is beset by sea hags, serial killers, creepy clowns and other evils that interfere with Tom’s dream of turning Widow’s Bay into a Martha’s Vineyard-like tourist destination.
    — Alison Herman, Variety, 17 June 2026
  • Martha’s Vineyard also has knife-wielding men in masks and creepy sea hags!
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
Definition of hags
Noun
  • This young adult fantasy follows a 16-year-old who discovers a magical attack and realizes this new world of demons and mages has a connection to her mother’s death.
    — Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 2 July 2026
  • Wizards, or mages (as the group has commonly referred to Eleven), develop their powers using arcane magic to cast powerful spells.
    — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 26 Nov. 2025
Definition of mages
Verb
  • But like a bolt of lightning from Zeus himself, Page instantly charms us from his first swig of SunnyD, creating a character whose quippy armor hides a sensitive soul longing for meaningful connection.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 19 July 2026
  • Vibeke charms his in-laws, coos over the baby and, according to Karl’s quick furtive search of her handbag, appears to be taking her meds.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 7 July 2026
Definition of charms
Noun
  • Decades before portraying one of literature’s greatest sorceresses in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Samantha Morton was a magician’s assistant.
    — Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 19 July 2026
  • But unlike Odysseus, who survives being waylaid by giants, sorceresses, nymphs, and numerous other distractions, Nolan himself becomes dragged down by the details of his Odyssey.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 15 July 2026
Definition of sorceresses
Noun
  • Whether magicians, thieves, or just fed up citizens, somebody has made an entire city’s worth of ALPRs vanish in the night.
    — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 5 Aug. 2026
  • The celebrated musicians, the eclectic writers, the artist troupes, the lumberjacks, the magicians.
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 28 July 2026
Definition of magicians
Verb
  • Yet, what fascinates is that Aristotle’s God isn’t a typical divine being who summons and shepherds.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Meanwhile, what fascinates aspiring neurologist Makenzie Stovall is the idea that AI is trying to emulate the brain — an organ whose inner workings continue to leave researchers dumbfounded.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of fascinates
Noun
  • This means the team members don’t need to be tech wizards to build custom reference material.
    — K.H. Koehler, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Players can also customize a walking castle and investigate a mystery involving missing wizards.
    — Matt Gardner, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of wizards

Browse Nearby Words

witchery
witches
witching
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Cite this Entry

“Witches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/witches. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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