witch doctor

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noun

a person in some societies who attempts to cure sickness and to exorcise evil spirits by the use of magic.

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Origin of witch doctor

First recorded in 1710–20

Words nearby witch doctor

witblits, witch, witch alder, witch ball, witchcraft, witch doctor, witch-elm, witchery, witches'-besom, witches' brew, witches'-broom

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use witch doctor in a sentence

Isn't that a kind of witch doctor, discarded by society with the dawn of modern medicine?
Doctors Need Midwives: Ina May Gaskin on the U.S. Maternity-Care Crisis|Ina May Gaskin|May 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Making initial moves toward a desired goal is all the witch doctor orders.
Zodiac Beast: April 24-30|Starsky + Cox|April 23, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Did the old witch doctor tell you something momentous that you forgot to pass on to me?
A Frontier Mystery|Bertram Mitford
Some dark villainy underlay this, and that the witch doctor was connected with it was borne in upon my mind without a doubt.
A Frontier Mystery|Bertram Mitford

The witch doctor simply refused to speak at all, but the young men jeered.
A Frontier Mystery|Bertram Mitford
Not yet would I reveal to Aïda the horrible fate to which the repulsive superstition of the witch doctor had consigned her.
A Frontier Mystery|Bertram Mitford
He, like Major Sewin, the witch doctor had gradually imbued with a taste for the occult.
A Frontier Mystery|Bertram Mitford

British Dictionary definitions for witch doctor

witch doctor

noun

Also called: shaman, medicine man a man in certain societies, esp preliterate ones, who appears to possess magical powers, used esp to cure sickness but also to harm people

a person who seeks out or hunts witches in some African tribal cultures

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

witch doctor

Origin of witch doctor

Words nearby witch doctor

Words related to witch doctor

How to use witch doctor in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for witch doctor