Adjacent Words

hocus-pocus definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way [syn: trickery, hocus-pocus, slickness, hanky panky, jiggery-pokery, skulduggery, skullduggery]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: probably from hocus pocus, imitation Latin phrase used by jugglers Date: 1647 1. sleight of hand 2. nonsense or sham used especially to cloak deception II. transitive verb (-cussed or -cused; -cussing or -cusing) Date: 1774 to play tricks on

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 deception; trickery. 2 a typical verbal formula used in conjuring. --v. (-pocussed, -pocussing; US -pocused, -pocusing) 1 intr. (often foll. by with) play tricks. 2 tr. play tricks on, deceive. Etymology: 17th-c. sham L

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe something as hocus-pocus, you disapprove of it because you think it is false and intended to trick or deceive people. = trickery [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Juggler, trickster, impostor, cheater, swindler, sharper. 2. Cheat, juggle, trick, deception, imposition, imposture, delusion, deceit, artifice, circumvention, chouse, piece of finesse.

Moby Thesaurus

abracadabra, artifice, cheat, chicanery, con game, conjuring, deceit, deception, duplicity, flimflam, gibberish, hanky-panky, hoax, humbug, incantation, jiggery-pokery, jugglery, legerdemain, magic, mischief, mumbo-jumbo, nonsense, prestidigitation, rigmarole, sleight of hand, swindle, trick, trickery