Sortilege

//ˈsɔːtɪlɪd͡ʒ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Witchcraft, magic, especially as a means of making decisions or predictions. countable, uncountable

    "We have therefore summoned to our presence a Jewish woman, by name Rebecca, daughter of Isaac of York — a woman infamous for sortileges and for witcheries."

Example

More examples

"We have therefore summoned to our presence a Jewish woman, by name Rebecca, daughter of Isaac of York — a woman infamous for sortileges and for witcheries."

Etymology

From Old French sortilège, from Medieval Latin sortilegium (“witchcraft”), from Latin sortilegus (“sorcerer, diviner”), from sors (“fate”) + legere (“choose”).

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