Apotropaic

//ˌæpətɹəˈpeɪ.ɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An agent intended to ward off evil.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Intended to ward off evil.

    "Wormwood [...] was associated with the rites of St. John's Eve, when a crown of the plant was made from its sprays for apotropaic purposes, to ward of malefic spirits."

Adjective
  1. 1
    having the power to prevent evil or bad luck wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
apotropaionluckyward off

Example

More examples

"The horseshoe brings luck and has apotropaic meaning."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀποτρόπαιος (apotrópaios), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) and τρόπος (trópos, “turn”); thus meaning “causing things to turn away”, as in “turns away evil”.

Related phrases

apotropaic eyeward off

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.