hoodoo
Americannoun
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hoodoos
plural
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Hoodoo. African American folk magic practiced predominantly in the southeastern United States through rituals of protection, herbal medicine, charming of objects, and ancestor veneration.
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(in popular culture) bad luck, or a person or thing that brings bad luck.
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Geology. a pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a variant of voodoo
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informal a person or thing that brings bad luck
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informal bad luck
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(in the western US and Canada) a strangely shaped column of rock
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hoodoo
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; apparently a variant of Voodoo
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:
He even suggested it might be cursed — “There is a hoodoo on it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
James Slipper scored a try in his 200th Super Rugby match as the ACT Brumbies broke a 26-year hoodoo on Sunday with a 50-24 hammering of the Canterbury Crusaders.
From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026
South Africa could be a threat having broken their hoodoo with the Test Championship win.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
Mosaku: I spoke to hoodoo priestesses and that was really my main research, was kind of the faith, because that is who she is.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
So feel I. Living in the Congo shakes open the prison house of my disposition and lets all the wicked hoodoo Adahs run forth.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
By the time we made it to Black Canyon of the Gunnison, we were pretty excited to see something other than the hoodoos and arches that we were starting to take for granted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
This 9,915-acre state park is one of Utah’s most popular and, along with Bryce Canyon National Park, about 200 miles southwest, contains some of the largest occurrences of hoodoos in the world.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 16, 2022
The bus crashed a few miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, which is known for its intricately shaped red-rock spires called hoodoos.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2021
Southgate says England, a nation looking to reach a first final for 55 years, have dealt with a number of "hoodoos" already during the tournament.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2021
Of "hants" and "spirits" and "witches" and "hoodoos" he told the boy with such earnest confidence and so convincing a manner that to doubt was impossible.
From Their Yesterdays by Harold Bell Wright
“He got hoodooed by this guy. He’s worth $16 billion. He’s obviously hoodooed a few people here and there. He took our governor for a ride,” Harpootlian said.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2022
His explanation: he was being hoodooed by a radio announcer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Finally the girl herself thought she was hoodooed and fell to the ground kicking and screaming.
From Sawdust & Spangles Stories & Secrets of the Circus by W. C. Coup
"Not so dreadfully hoodooed after all, were you, Kit?"
From Harper's Round Table, May 28, 1895 by Various
"Well, anyway, it's up to us to get out of this hoodooed place as soon as possible," I told them.
From Bert Wilson at Panama by J. W. Duffield
"I won't be any longer than I can help, and don't you go to hoodooing me, now, while I'm upstairs."
From Jewel by Clara Louise Burnham
Do you realize what a start like this—three twos—would mean to a professional like Frank or even an amateur that hadn't offended every busy little fate and fury in the whole hoodooing business?
From Murder in Any Degree by Owen Johnson
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.
