Dictionary.com

sympathetic magic

noun

magic predicated on the belief that one thing or event can affect another at a distance as a consequence of a sympathetic connection between them.

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Compare contagious magic, imitative magic.

Origin of sympathetic magic

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby sympathetic magic

sympathetic contact, sympathetic ganglia, sympathetic imbalance, sympathetic ink, sympathetic introspection, sympathetic magic, sympathetic nerve, sympathetic nervous system, sympathetic ophthalmia, sympathetic strike, sympathetic string
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

British Dictionary definitions for sympathetic magic

sympathetic magic

noun

a type of magic in which it is sought to produce a large-scale effect, often at a distance, by performing some small-scale ceremony resembling it, such as the pouring of water on an altar to induce rainfall
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012