diabolism

[dahy-ab-uh-liz-uhm]

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.

diabolism

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• diabolist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of diabolism¹

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.

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Whether it manifests as racism, bullying, or subliminal conditioning to self-harm, "Evil" shows us how ordinary and banal most diabolism is.

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

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Still, be warned: “The Sorcery Club” may seem an example of dated turn-of-the-century diabolism, but I wouldn’t try any of its weird invocations at home.

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Then came the pictured rocks—the illustrated newspaper of the aborigines, free, so far as I know, from the diabolism which pollutes the pictorial papers of our time.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• calamity 
• catastrophe 
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• sin 
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• wrong