coven
Americannoun
-
covens
plural
noun
-
a meeting of witches
-
a company of 13 witches
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of coven
1500–10 for sense “assembly”; 1655–65 for current sense; variant of obsolete covent assembly, religious group, convent
Explanation
A group of witches is called a coven. In books, a coven of witches often gather at night to make potions and cast spells. The mythology of witches has them meeting under cover of night, often in mysterious groups of 13. Although there are only three of them, the "weird sisters" in Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" could be considered a coven. To people who follow the contemporary religion called Wicca, a coven is a gathering, no different from a congregation in Christianity. The word coven arose in the mid-1600s, ultimately from the Latin root conventus, "assembly."
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:
“Marble Hall Murders,” in which Lesley Manville returns as book-editor/sleuth Susan Ryeland, opens with a teenage coven of druidic pharmacists mixing a noxious potion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
In 1994, Tori Amos’ U.S. video for her piano anthem “Cornflake Girl” presents a coven of quarreling young women driven through the desert in the back of a pickup truck.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2026
"The Witches is about that discovery that actually these benign looking women turn out to be this coven of witches, so that is embodied in the hotel," Mr O'Brien says.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2025
Rio declares she is “less a green witch, more the Green Witch” when she first meets Agatha’s coven on the Witches’ Road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2024
Poppy’s face dropped as she looked at Seven, all their plans of being coven sisters unraveling.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
One has to imagine that among the covens of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, similar celebrations of glee are spontaneously erupting today after the two-part finale of “Agatha All Along.”
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2024
“Women studied with Z and then went on to form covens of their own,” Magliocco said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2021
Ryan Murphy's groundbreaking show focuses on a different spooky story each season, tackling the likes of witch covens, haunted hotels, a 1980s slasher story, and even the apocalypse.
From Fox News ● Apr. 16, 2020
The “Untitled” photographs evoke paintings by Ensor, Bruegel and especially the covens and rituals conjured up by Goya.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2018
The happy squeals of the other covens turned to whispers and sighs of relief, Seven thought with a cringe.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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.
