Word.ws English Dictionary

apotropaic

/ˌæpətɹəˈpeɪ.ɪk/

apotropaic adjective: intended to ward off evil.

Adjective

apotropaic (comparative more apotropaic, superlative most apotropaic)

  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.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 1
    • A boring subtext, about the wisdom or otherwise of actually uttering Voldemort's name, meanwhile robs the apotropaic device of its force.2007 August 12, Christopher Hitchens, “Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived”, in New York Times

Noun

apotropaic (plural apotropaics)

  1. An agent intended to ward off evil.
    Synonyms:
    apotropaion

apotropaic meaning in Tamil and Arabic

apotropaic in Tamil

தீங்குவிலக்குகிற, தீமை விலக்கத்தக்க

apotropaic in Arabic

intended to ward off evil
تَعَوُّذِيّ taʕawwuḏiyy

Synonyms of apotropaic

Forms of apotropaic

Adjective
comparativemore apotropaic
superlativemost apotropaic
Noun
pluralapotropaics

Origin of apotropaic

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”.

Words formed from apotropaic

Questions about apotropaic

What does apotropaic mean?
Apotropaic means intended to ward off evil.
What is apotropaic in Tamil?
Apotropaic in Tamil is தீங்குவிலக்குகிற, தீமை விலக்கத்தக்க. See Apotropaic meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is apotropaic?
Apotropaic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce apotropaic?
Apotropaic is pronounced /ˌæpətɹəˈpeɪ.ɪk/.

Words near apotropaic in the dictionary

  1. apotransaminases
  2. apotransferrin
  3. apotreptic
  4. apotreptics
  5. apotropaia
  6. apotropaic
  7. apotropaic eye
  8. apotropaically
  9. apotropaics
  10. apotropaion
  11. apotropaism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: apotropaic (page history and authors); apotropaic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-apotropaic.wav.

Cite this entry: “apotropaic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/apotropaic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.