occult
UK/ˈɒk.ʌlt/US/əˈkʌlt/
occult verb: to cover or hide from view.
Verb
occult (third-person singular simple present occults, present participle occulting, simple past and past participle occulted)
- To cover or hide from view.
- The Earth occults the Moon during a lunar eclipse.
- To dissimulate, conceal, or obfuscate.
- […]to do so would occult rather than illuminate the utterly unexpected and surprising character of his coming and of his reign.2013 June 28, Abi Doukhan, Spectrum Magazine
Adjective
occult (comparative more occult, superlative most occult)
- Secret; hidden from general knowledge; undetected.
- occult blood loss; occult cancer
- This counter-influence is so much more conclusive[…] because it is of an occult kind, and is so insensible in its advances as to escape observation.1860, Isaac Taylor, “Mind in Form”, in Ultimate Civilization, page 178
- not visible, but chemically detectable.
- occult blood in the urine
- Related to the occult; pertaining to mysticism, magic, or astrology.
- The concoctions contrived by Italians were particularly in clamant demand, while the occult sciences of astrology and alchemy lent their support[.]1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 190
- Be aware that occult knowledge can be used for good or evil purposes.2017, Pao Chang, Word Magic: The Powers & Occult Definitions of Words, →OCLC
- Esoteric.
- Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
Noun
occult (uncountable)
- Supernatural affairs.
- Due to my strong personal convictions / I wish to stress / That this record / In no way endorses / A belief in the occult2016, Lemon Demon, “Lifetime Achievement Award”, in Spirit Phone
occult meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
occult in Hindi
- supernatural affairs
- तंत्र-मंत्र tantra-mantra
occult in Tamil
- புதிரான, மறைவான, அறிய இயலா இயக்கம், மறைந்த நிலை
occult in Urdu
- خفیہ, مشکل
occult in Bengali
- গুপ্ত, রহস্যময়, অতিপ্রাকৃত
More languagesFewer languages
- occult in Malayalam
- അറിവിന് പുറത്തുളള, ഗുപ്തമായ, ഗൂഢമായ, മാന്ത്രികമായ
- occult in Kannada
- ಅತೀಂದ್ರಿಯ, ನಿಸರ್ಗಾತೀತ, ಐಂದ್ರಜಾಲಿಕ, ಮಾಂತ್ರಿಕ
- occult in Sinhala
- ගුප්තශාස්ත්ර guptaśāstra
- occult in Arabic
- تَنْجِيمِيَّة tanjīmiyya
- occult in Indonesian
- okultisme
- occult in Persian
- نهان nahân, پنهان penhân, مخفی maxfi, رازآمیز râz-âmiz
- occult in Thai
- สิ่งลึกลับ sìng léuk láp
Examples of occult in a sentence
- When viewed through a severely skeptical monocle it can look like occult numberwang.
- Somewhat crude occult exploitationer about a little girl who is possessed by a devil.
- The medicine of the nineteenth century was haunted by that occult eye which cadaverises life.
Forms of occult
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | occults |
| present participle | occulting |
| past participle | occulted |
| past | occulted |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more occult |
| superlative | most occult |
Origin of occult
Borrowed from Latin occultus (“hidden, secret”).
Words formed from occult
Phrases with occult
Words that rhyme with occult
3 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about occult
- What does occult mean?
- Occult means to cover or hide from view.
- What is occult in Hindi?
- Occult in Hindi is तंत्र-मंत्र (tantra-mantra). See Occult meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is occult?
- Occult can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce occult?
- Occult is pronounced /ˈɒk.ʌlt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of occult?
- The past tense of occult is occulted.
Words near occult in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: occult (page history and authors); occult (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); occult (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); occult (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); occult (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); occult (Kannada 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: en-au-occult.ogg.
Cite this entry: “occult.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/occult. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.