occult
/ɒˈkʌlt
/ /ˈɒkʌlt /noun (the occult)
Mystical, supernatural, or magical powers, practices, or phenomena: a secret society to study alchemy and the occult...
- This categorisation has to be seen in the context of the place of telepathy and the occult in psychoanalysis.
- This was later altered to mean ‘witch’ or ‘magician’ for the people who practiced the occult.
- Actually, I suspect it is really about religion, in the same way that Tropic of Night was about black magic or voodoo or the occult.
Synonyms
the supernatural, the paranormal, supernaturalism, magic, black magic, witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, wizardry, the black arts, Kabbalah, cabbalism, occultism, diabolism, devil worship, devilry, voodoo, hoodoo, white magic, witchery, witching, orenda, mysticism;
New Zealand makutu
rare theurgy
adjective
1Involving or relating to mystical, supernatural, or magical powers, practices, or phenomena: an occult ceremony a weird occult sensation of having experienced the identical situation before...
- Her plots depend on the occult power of art and the frailty of our ordinary healthy relation to the world.
- The result is witchcraft practised as an occult art, operating primarily through spells and curses.
- Americans have significantly increased their belief in psychic, paranormal and occult phenomena over the past decade, the Gallup Poll notes.
Synonyms
supernatural, magic, magical, mystical, mystic, paranormal, psychic, necromantic, preternatural, transcendental;
secret, hidden, dark, concealed, veiled, invisible, obscure, recondite, cryptic, arcane, abstruse, esoteric, cabbalistic;
inexplicable, unexplainable, unfathomable, incomprehensible, impenetrable, unrevealed, puzzling, perplexing, mystifying, mysterious, enigmatic, hermetic
1.1Communicated only to the initiated; esoteric: the typically occult language of the time...
- Every culture has its avant-garde, and every avant-garde has its own occult language.
- Since my initiation, very few outside of my Order knew of my initiation or of my occult involvement.
- That's what is so disappointing about using the Net to organize occult communities.
2 Medicine (Of a disease or process) not accompanied by readily discernible signs or symptoms: careful palpation sometimes discloses occult spina bifida...
- The authors conclude that low levels of cholesterol may be potential warning signs of occult disease or rapidly declining health.
- The systemic features of both entities can mimic occult infection, malignancy, multiple myeloma and connective tissue disease.
- Many organisms can cause febrile occult infection in young children.
2.1(Of blood) abnormally present, e.g. in faeces, but detectable only chemically or microscopically.When compared with endoscopy, faecal occult blood tests detect < 30% of cancers and < 12% of large adenomas....
- A physician could recommend a colonoscopy, fecal occult blood testing, a double-barium enema, flexible sigmoidoscopy, or a general rectal exam.
- The cards were rehydrated before testing, which has been shown to increase the sensitivity of occult blood detection.
verb /ɒˈkʌlt / [with object]
/ [with object]1Cut off from view by interposing something: a wooden screen designed to occult the competitors...
- The sound was being occulted by something that passed in front of it with an acoustic masker.
- The blinding sun has occulted a segment of the river's surface, rendering it opaque to the spectator's eye.
- To find the picture's meaning occulted in the thing itself, to discover a structure that will resolve all interpretative debate: these are art history's perennial dreams.
1.1 Astronomy (Of a celestial body) conceal (an apparently smaller body) from view by passing or being in front of it: the Moon occults Mars during daylight on March 22...
- Nineteenth-century astronomers argued over what they saw through their telescopes when the Moon occulted a star.
- Alternatively Mercury might pass behind Venus and be occulted.
- From parts of northwestern Canada and Alaska, the Moon will actually occult Jupiter.
Derivatives
occultation
/ noun ...- This produced a series of occultations and eclipses of and by the satellite, each half-orbit, from 1985 to 1992.
- It's the tail end of an eclipse or ‘lunar occultation.’
- I also worked with the Voyager photopolarimeter team that observed stellar occultations of Saturn's rings.
occultism
/ noun ...- My second catalyst was also well acquainted with various forms of mysticism, occultism and meditation.
- The end of the twentieth century was marked by a boom of astrology, mysticism, and occultism in many countries.
- I thought it might be interesting to look at the concept of ‘the counter culture’ and how it relates to magic and occultism.
occultist
/ /ˈɒkʌltɪst / noun ...- Why do witches, pagans and occultists hold such store by the notion of being ‘boundary breakers’?
- Randi had for decades used his insider's knowledge of the flim-flam trade to humiliate a generation of occultists.
- However, it should not be assumed that all young people in Down who listen to metal are drug-crazed occultists.
occultly
/ adverb ...- I didn't know you were so occultly tuned.
occultness
/ noun ...- Tool will not be moving over for Klaxons, because Klaxons aren't very good musicians and are being painfully gimmicky with their occultness.
- The occultness and the intrinsic links of both the universe and human beings are incredibly demonstrated.
Origin
Late 15th century (as a verb): from Latin occultare 'secrete', frequentative of occulere 'conceal', based on celare 'to hide'; the adjective and noun from occult- 'covered over', from the verb occulere.