Word.ws English Dictionary

witch-finder

witch-finder is the alternative form of witchfinder.

Meaning of witchfinder

Noun

witchfinder (plural witchfinders)

  1. (historical) A person employed to carry out witch-hunts and identify witches.
    • From the 1970s direct and public accusations of witchcraft increased in Zambia, and with them the use of expert witch-finders, who were ubiquitous in rural areas by the 1980s.2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press, page 30

Forms of witch-finder

pluralwitch-finders

Origin of witch-finder

From witch + finder.

Questions about witch-finder

What is witch-finder the alternative form of?
Witch-finder is the alternative form of witchfinder.

Words near witch-finder in the dictionary

  1. witch-balls
  2. witch-doctor
  3. witch-doctors
  4. witch-elm
  5. witch-elms
  6. witch-finder
  7. witch-finders
  8. witch-hazel
  9. witch-hazel cone gall
  10. witch-hazel cone gall aphid
  11. witch-hazel cone gall aphids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: witch-finder (page history and authors); witchfinder (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: “witch-finder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/witch-finder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.