Definition

1. Noun:

   • A religion: A religious system practiced mainly in Haiti and other Caribbean regions, combining elements of Roman Catholicism with traditional West African beliefs, involving rituals, spirit worship, and sometimes magic.
   • A practitioner or follower: A person who practices or believes in Voodoo.
   • A charm or spell: An object or incantation believed to have magical power, often used to influence events or people.

2. Verb:

   • To bewitch: To cast a spell on someone or something, or to exert a mysterious, controlling, or magical influence over them.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Religion):
  • She studied the history and rituals of Haitian voodoo.
  • Voodoo incorporates belief in a supreme god and many spirits.
• Noun (Practitioner):
  • The voodoo performed a ceremony to heal the sick.
• Noun (Charm/Spell):
  • He carried a small voodoo for protection.
• Verb:
  • The storyteller claimed the old woman could voodoo anyone who crossed her.
  • He felt voodooed by her charismatic personality.

Advanced Usage

• "Voodoo economics": A derogatory term for economic policies perceived as unrealistic or based on wishful thinking rather than sound principles.
  • Critics dismissed the candidate's tax plan as voodoo economics.
• "Voodoo doll": A doll made to represent a person, used in certain magical rituals, often with the intent to harm that person by sticking pins into it.
  • The movie featured a villain using a voodoo doll to control his enemies.

Variants and Related Words

• Voodooist (noun): A practitioner or adherent of Voodoo.
  • The voodooist led the community in the ritual.
• Voodooism (noun): The system of beliefs and practices associated with Voodoo.
  • Anthropologists have written extensively about voodooism.

Synonyms

• Noun (Religion): Obeah, Santería (related but distinct Afro-Caribbean religions).
• Noun (Magic): Sorcery, witchcraft, hoodoo, juju.
• Verb: Bewitch, hex, jinx, enchant.

Related Phrases

• Practice voodoo: To engage in Voodoo rituals or magic.
  • It is said that some people in the village still practice voodoo.
• Voodoo priest/priestess: A leader in the Voodoo religion.
  • The community sought guidance from the voodoo priestess.

Idioms

• (Like) voodoo magic: Used to describe something that works in a seemingly mysterious or inexplicable way.
  • The technician fixed the complex machine; it was like voodoo magic.

Noun

1. a religious cult practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries (especially Haiti); involves witchcraft and animistic deities
2. (Haiti) followers of a religion that involves witchcraft and animistic deities
3. a charm superstitiously believed to embody magical powers

Verb

1. bewitch by or as if by a voodoo