Word.ws English Dictionary

sword-and-sorcery

sword-and-sorcery is the alternative spelling of sword and sorcery.

Meaning of sword and sorcery

Adjective

sword and sorcery (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) Of or pertaining to a genre of narratives—including short stories, novels, television shows, films, and computer games—which combines wizardry and other fantastical supernatural elements with violent combat using pre-modern weaponry.
    • In the typical Sword and Sorcery novel, the setting resembles the misty landscape of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, in that larger-than-life heroes struggle against strange and nightmarish antagonists.1972, Don Davidson, “Sword and Sorcery Fiction: An Annotated Book List”, in The English Journal, volume 61, number 1, page 44

See all 2 meanings of sword and sorcery

Questions about sword-and-sorcery

What is sword-and-sorcery the alternative spelling of?
Sword-and-sorcery is the alternative spelling of sword and sorcery.

Words near sword-and-sorcery in the dictionary

  1. sword swallowers
  2. sword swallowing
  3. sword verse
  4. sword verses
  5. sword-and-sandal
  6. sword-and-sorcery
  7. sword-bearer
  8. sword-bearers
  9. sword-bearing
  10. sword-billed hummingbird
  11. sword-billed hummingbirds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sword-and-sorcery (page history and authors); sword and sorcery (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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