Word.ws English Dictionary

santería

santería noun: an Afro-Cuban religion, somewhat similar to voodoo, based upon Yoruba deities and Roman Catholic saints.

Noun (1)

santería (uncountable)

  1. An Afro-Cuban religion, somewhat similar to voodoo, based upon Yoruba deities and Roman Catholic saints.
    • Santería is the name for an Afro-Cuban religious and belief system with origins in the slave era. The survival of santería over many centuries required adherents to conduct their ceremonies and rituals away from the gaze of European slave owners and the Catholic Church.2007, Paul Allatson, Key Terms in Latino/a: Cultural and Literary Studies, page 209
    • Although all worshipers of Santería could be called Santeros, the term usually refers to the priests or priestesses.2008, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft, and Wicca, page 311

Noun (2) capitalized: Santería

Santería (uncountable)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of santería.

Examples of santería in a sentence

  • Denied her sex by biology, Sandra finds the powers of spiritual transformation in gender in santería, a transcultural religious practice with Catholic elements.2010, Vek Lewis, Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America, page 119:
  • Anyway, getting back to the proof of the pudding, I'm sure you will admit that there is something about the supernatural world, in which I include voodoo and santería.2010, Pedro C. López, Pandemic of Lies: The Exile, page 248:

Forms of santería

alternative formsanteria
alternative formSantería

Origin of santería

Borrowed from Spanish santería (“saintishness, saintery”).

Questions about santería

What does santería mean?
Santería means an Afro-Cuban religion, somewhat similar to voodoo, based upon Yoruba deities and Roman Catholic saints.
How do you use santería in a sentence?
Denied her sex by biology, Sandra finds the powers of spiritual transformation in gender in santería, a transcultural religious practice with Catholic elements.
What part of speech is santería?
Santería is a noun.

Words near santería in the dictionary

  1. santero
  2. santeros
  3. Santerre
  4. Santerres
  5. santers
  6. santería
  7. Santerían
  8. Santeríans
  9. Santhal
  10. Santhali
  11. Santhals

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: santería (page history and authors); Santería (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.

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Cite this entry: “santería.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/santer%C3%ADa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.