thaumaturge
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of thaumaturge
First recorded in 1705–15; back formation from thaumaturgic
Explanation
A thaumaturge is a magician or mystic. If you impress your friend by pulling coins out of her ear or turning her homework into a bouquet of flowers, she may call you a thaumaturge. The original definition of thaumaturge, dating from 1715, is "worker of wonders." Most early thaumaturges were practitioners of nonreligious magic, particularly magic that was based in science or mathematics. Occasionally, the word has also been used in a religious sense, to mean "saint" or "miracle worker." This word is rooted in the Greek thaûma, "wonder or astonishment."
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.
For eight years, Petrie and others in a national writers group called Typewriter Rodeo have nurtured this approach, earning raves from the likes of cinematic thaumaturge Tom Hanks, a typewriter aficionado.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
“If the pope were a thaumaturge, I would ask him to end the pandemic, but unfortunately he doesn’t have this power,” said Inigo Sanchez, one of the attendees.
From Fox News ● Sep. 2, 2020
But the president sorely underestimated a political thaumaturge, so gifted that his ascent to the White House had been foreseen when he was aged just seven by his school teacher.
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2020
But better even than Warhol at managing and magnifying the celebrity of the face is Kanye: pop's best thaumaturge of self-image.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 7, 2014
A thaumaturge of my acquaintance has saved a good many of the bewitched who without his aid would be howling under hydrotherapeutic douches.
From Là-bas by Wallace, Keene
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.
