diabolism

American  

[dahy-ab-uh-liz-uhm] / daɪˈæb əˌlɪz əm /

noun

1. Theology.

   1. action aided or caused by the devil; sorcery; witchcraft.

   2. the character or condition of a devil.

   3. a doctrine concerning devils.

   4. a belief in or worship of devils.

2. action befitting the devil; deviltry.

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diabolism British  

/ daɪˈæbəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. 1. activities designed to enlist the aid of devils, esp in witchcraft or sorcery

   2. worship of devils or beliefs and teachings concerning them

   3. the nature of devils

2. character or conduct that is devilish or fiendish; devilry

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Other Word Forms

• diabolist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of diabolism

1600–10; < Greek diábol ( os ) devil + -ism

Example Sentences

In addition to lending primacy to the Hanlons’ perspectives, “Welcome to Derry” also takes viewers inside the Indigenous community pushed to the town’s outskirts to explore their relationship to the diabolism known as It.

From Salon • Oct. 26, 2025

Whatever their theme — spectral invasion, diabolism, shape-changing — Blackwood expertly builds up an atmosphere of the otherworldly coupled with the spiritually threatening.

From Washington Post • Dec. 8, 2020

Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images Pendle: a place synonymous with witches and Britain's most notorious diabolism trials.

From The Guardian • Aug. 16, 2012

Then came Stravinsky's L'Oiseau de Feu sweeping its fantastic plumage through a maze of golden apples and silver trees, stripped a little of its diabolism, but gloriously exotic withal.

From Time Magazine Archive

Balthazar Becker, one of the most meritorious of the opponents of diabolism, was deposed from his ministerial office by an ecclesiastical synod, and denounced as an atheist.

From The Superstitions of Witchcraft by Williams, Howard

Related Words

• calamity
• catastrophe
• corruption
• crime
• harm
• hatred
• ill
• misery
• pain
• sin
• suffering
• wrong