Magus
noun
one of the Magi.
Magus
American
[mey-guhs]
/ ˈmeɪ gəs /
noun
-
Magi
plural
-
(sometimes lowercase) one of the Magi.
-
(lowercase) a magician, sorcerer, or astrologer.
-
(sometimes lowercase) a Zoroastrian priest.
magus
1
British
/ ˈmeɪɡəs /
noun
-
a Zoroastrian priest
-
an astrologer, sorcerer, or magician of ancient times
Magus
2
British
/ ˈmeɪɡəs /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Magus
1615–25; < Latin < Greek mágos < Old Persian maguŝ; compare Avestan moγu
Explanation
A magus is a follower of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion. You can also use magus to mean "magician" or "wise man." In ancient Persia, a Zoroastrian priest (or a member of that particular caste) was a magus. The word's meaning grew to include practitioners of astrology and magic, but in English its plural form, magi, is most commonly used for the three wise men, or magi, who are described visiting Jesus in the Bible. Magus means "magician" in Latin, and its roots go back to the Old Persian magush, also "magician."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The plan was that Weimer would financially stabilize Magus while McElroy maintained a steady income at her corporate gigs to subsidize the endeavor.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
Under the watchful eye of owner David Bell, Magus became the institution that we know today.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
But customers at the annex also have access to all the books in stock at the main Magus store, which the staff has started to refer to as “the engine.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
Weimer says with some satisfaction that customers frequently walk in to Magus “and they say ‘I went to college here in 1982, and the store still smells the same and looks the same.’
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
A Fife laird, driving home across Magus Moor after dining not wisely but too well, fell out of his gig, and his wig fell off, but was recovered by his servant.
From A New Medley of Memories by David Hunter-Blair
And a venom peptide from a cone snail, Conus magus, led to Prialt, a chronic pain drug.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 27, 2022
Burgess originally intended to capture Death but when Dream materializes instead, unconscious and helpless, the "magus" decides he'll do just fine.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2022
Somehow, the younger Fellini strikes me as sadder and wiser than the all-powerful magus he would eventually become.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 17, 2020
Further, the words used to describe men with magical powers – warlock, magus, sorcerer, wizard – don’t carry the same stigma.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 7, 2018
It was a construction she must have once overheard, and she had uttered it in blind faith, like an apprentice mouthing the incantation of a magus.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
These are the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi; Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives, the Crucifixion and the Lamentation; and, finally, the Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
One day, Phipps rang saying: "Magi, we've got this cat. It's been abandoned, I think it'll have a good life with you."
From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2025
Nobody can tell you whether any of them knew a Magi from a Musketeer, not to mention that the Roman Empire they worked under was a failed administration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
In some traditions, it celebrates the baptism of Jesus and in others the visit of the Three Magi to the Baby Jesus.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 6, 2024
I worried that if she kept it up, the Three Magi wouldn’t come with presents.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
