apotropaic
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- apotropaically adverb
Etymology
Origin of apotropaic
1880–85; < Greek apotrópai ( os ) averting evil ( apo-, trope ) + -ic
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.
Above his pitches for proprietary health-nut dietary blends, Johnson's slogan of "Don't die" hangs like an apotropaic talisman on his social media banners.
From Salon
The most common type of apotropaic mark is the daisy wheel, or hexafoil, which is often a six-petal “flower” drawn with a pair of compasses.
From Fox News
The logic of substitution is common to folk magic around the world and might have been central to apotropaic magic, too.
From The New Yorker
A herm’s original apotropaic function as a statue to ward off evil is here colonized by traditional femininity — and now runs gleefully amok.
From Los Angeles Times
The "apotropaic" marks were scribed into the cave surface as they were thought to keep evil spirits coming from the underworld.
From BBC
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.
