Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Conjure

Definition: Conjure

Conjure

Verb

1. Evoke or call forth, with or as if by magic: "raise the specter of unemployment"; "he conjured wild birds in the air"; "stir a disturbance"; "call down the spirits from the mountain".

2. Ask for or request earnestly; "The prophet bid all people to become good persons".

3. Engage in plotting or enter into a conspiracy, swear together; "They conspired to overthrow the government".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "conjure" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Note: Conjure \Con*jure"\ (k[o^]n*j[=u]r"), transitive verb. [imperfect & past participle. Conjured(-j[=u]rd"); Conjuring.]. (Websters 1913)


Synonyms: Conjure

Synonyms: adjure (v), arouse (v), beseech (v), bid (v), bring up (v), cabal (v), call down (v), call forth (v), complot (v), conjure up (v), conspire (v), entreat (v), invoke (v), machinate (v), press (v), put forward (v), raise (v), stir (v). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Conjure

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Deception

Cog, cog the dice, load the dice, stack the deck; live by one's wits, play at hide and seek; obtain money under false pretenses; (steal); conjure, juggle, practice chicanery; deacon.

Imagination

Visualize, envision, conjure up a vision; fancy oneself, represent oneself, picture, picture-oneself, figure to oneself; vorstellen.

Repute

Noun: distinction, mark, name, figure; repute, reputation; good repute, high repute; note, notability, notoriety, eclat, " the bubble reputation ", vogue, celebrity; fame, famousness; renown; popularity, aura popularis; approbation; credit, succes d'estime, prestige, talk of the town; name to conjure with.

Request

Beg hard, entreat, beseech, plead, supplicate, implore; conjure, adjure; obtest; cry to, kneel to, appeal to; invoke, evoke; impetrate, imprecate, ply, press, urge, beset, importune, dun, tax, clamor for; cry aloud, cry for help; fall on one's knees; throw oneself at the feet of; come down on one's marrowbones.

Sorcery

Verb: practice sorcery;Noun: cast a nativity, conjure, exorcise, charm, enchant; bewitch, bedevil; hoodoo, voodoo; entrance, mesmerize, magnetize; fascinate; (influence); taboo; wave a wand; rub the ring, rub the lamp; cast a spell; call up spirits, call up spirits from the vasty deep; raise spirits from the dead.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Conjure

English words defined with "conjure": ConjuredTo conjure up. (references)
Specialty definitions using "conjure": Open, SesameSEAL. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Conjure" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses.

French (conjures).

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Modern Usage: Conjure

DomainUsage

Movie/TV Titles

The Conjure Woman (1926)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Conjure

DomainTitle

Books

  • 10 Minute Magic Spells: Conjure Love Luck & Money in an Instant (reference)

  • Conjure Blues: Poems (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Photo Album: Conjure

ThumbnailDescription & Credit

Does the thought of socks and underwear conjure up concerns about bacteria? Yes, microbes can reside and multiply in textile fabrics. But no matter-ARS researchers have developed treatments for cotton textiles with compounds containing peroxides. they resist bacteria and, as a bonus, resist fungi that cause athlete's foot. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Use in Literature: Conjure

TitleAuthorQuote

Walden

Thoreau, Henry David

Whatever humanity I might conjure up against it was all factitious, and concerned my philosophy more than my feelings.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Conjure

SubjectTopicQuote

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

SEAL, n. A mark impressed upon certain kinds of documents to attest their authenticity and authority. Sometimes it is stamped upon wax, and attached to the paper, sometimes into the paper itself. Sealing, in this sense, is a survival of an ancient custom of inscribing important papers with cabalistic words or signs to give them a magical efficacy independent of the authority that they represent. In the British museum are preserved many ancient papers, mostly of a sacerdotal character, validated by necromantic pentagrams and other devices, frequently initial letters of words to conjure with; and in many instances these are attached in the same way that seals are appended now. As nearly every reasonless and apparently meaningless custom, rite or observance of modern times had origin in some remote utility, it is pleasing to note an example of ancient nonsense evolving in the process of ages into something really useful. Our word "sincere" is derived from sine cero, without wax, but the learned are not in agreement as to whether this refers to the absence of the cabalistic signs, or to that of the wax with which letters were formerly closed from public scrutiny. Either view of the matter will serve one in immediate need of an hypothesis. The initials L.S., commonly appended to signatures of legal documents, mean locum sigillis, the place of the seal, although the seal is no longer used -- an admirable example of conservatism distinguishing Man from the beasts that perish. The words locum sigillis are humbly suggested as a suitable motto for the Pribyloff Islands whenever they shall take their place as a sovereign State of the American Union.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Conjure

"Conjure" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 77.98% of the time. "Conjure" is used about 168 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)77.98%13127,855
Lexical Verb (base form)19.64%3360,273
Noun (singular)1.79%3202,518
Noun (proper)0.6%1339,140
                    Total100.00%168N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Conjure

Expressions using "conjure": a name to conjure with conjure away conjure forth conjure man conjure up conjure up an egg out of a hat name to conjure with To conjure up. Additional references.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Conjure

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

conjure one

30

conjure

13

conjure lyrics one

11

conjure spirits

3

conjure woman

3

conjure from lyrics moon one tears

2

conjure from moon mp3 one tears

2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Conjure

Language Translations for "conjure"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

thërres (ask, bawl, call, call out, call up, convene, convoke, cry, exclaim, give a cry, hail, holler, invite, shout, sing out, summon, vociferate, wawl, whoop), thërras (ask, bawl, call, call out, call up, convene, convoke, cry, drum up, exclaim, hail, holler, invite, obtest, page, shout, sing out, summon, vociferate, wawl, whoop), sjell në mendje, ngjall (arouse, awake, bestir, breed, bring to life, create, exalt, excite, feed up, heal, incur, infuse, inspire, interest, kindle, quicken, raise, revive, sow, wake, whet), ndjell (augur, cluck, entice, evoke, forebode), namatis, i drejtoj me thirrje, bëj magji (hex). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏مارس السحر (charm, hex, spellbind), ‏ناشد (adjure, appeal, implore, invoke), ‏سحر (attractiveness, bedevil, bewitch, bewitchment, catch, charm, diablerie, enamor, enamour, enchantment, fascinate, fascination, glamor, glamour, incantation, infatuation, loveliness, magic, magnetize, matinee, mesmerize, necromancy, overlook, pleasantness, prestige, quaintness, ravishment, relish, smite, sorcery, spell, spellbind, temptation, weirdness, witch, witchcraft, witchery, wiz, wizardry, zest), ‏إستحضر الأرواح, ‏شعوذ (juggle, mountebank, quack). (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

умолявам (adjure, beg, beseech, entreat, implore, invoke, obtest, plead, pray, supplicate), апелирам към, правя фокуси (hocus pocus, juggle), правя магии (hoodoo), призовавам (appeal, call down, call on, call out, exhort, invoke, summon). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

變戲法 (juggle, perform conjuring tricks), 使"法 , 召" (Beckon, Beckoned, Beckoning, Conjured, Conjuring, Evoke, Evoked, Evoking, summon, Summoned, summoning, summons, Summonses). (various references)

   

Czech

  

zapřísahat (adjure, entreat, forswear, implore), vymyslet (conceive, concoct, devise, invent, lay), kouzlit (perform magic), èarovat (spell, voodoo). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

سوگنددادن (Adjure, Administration), جادوکردن (Enchant), التماس کردن به (Implore). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

taikoa (bewitch, practise witchcraft, use magic), loitsia (callup, enchant, practise magic), loihtia (cast a spell on, conjure up). (various references)

   

French

  

conjurer. (various references)

   

German

  

beschwören (adjure, attest, beg, beseech, charm, conjure up, exorcise, implore, invoke, swear, swear to, to conjure). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

εξορκίζω (adjure, entreat, exorcise, exorcize). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

ל"צי' על י"י קסמים. (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

varázsol (to conjure), ünnepélyesen felszólít (adjure, to conjure). (various references)

   

Italian

  

fare incantesimi, fare giochi di prestigio, far apparire come per incanto, evocare (call forth, evoke, invoke, to conjure up). (various references)

   

Manx

  

jannoo doalgaanee, faaishnaghey (forebode, forecast, foretell, predict). (various references)

   

Norwegian

  

trylle. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

onjurecay

   

Portuguese

  

conjurar (adjure, conspire, lay), invocar espíritos, implorar (beg, beseech, crave, deprecate, file, implore, invoke, petition, pray, supplicate), encantar (allure, appeal, becharm, bewitch, charm, delight, enchant, enrapture, enthral, enthrall, fascinate, fetch, flatter, glamor, glamour, lure, rapture). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

conjura (adjure, beseech, entreat, raise), chema (ask, call, call down, call up, challenge, chuckle, convene, convoke, entreat, hail, muster, page, ring, shout, signify, summon), invoca (allege, call down, invocate, invoke, plead, pretend, submit), implora (adjure, beseech, crave, entreat, implore, supplicate), fermeca (allure, bedevil, bewitch, captivate, carry, cast a spell upon, charm, enamor, enamour, enchant, enrapture, enravish, enthral, entrance, fascinate, fetch, lure, smite, spell, spellbind, take), face sã aparã. (various references)

   

Russian 

  

вызывать в воображении, вызывать (bring, bring about, bring forth, call, call in, challenge, cite, engender, entail, evoke, evoked, exert, give rise to, induce, involve, produce, provoke, ring for, summon, whistle up), заклинать (adjure, exorcise, exorcize, implore), заниматься магией, показывать фокусы (juggle). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

prizivati (evoke, imprecate), preklinjati (adjure, beg, beseech, entreat, implore, pray, supplicate). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

conjurar (adjure, attest, get rid of, invoke, lay), cambiar (alter, back, barter, be exchanged, break, break up, change, chop, deflect, dislocate, distort, drop, exchange, interchange, shift, swap, swap around, swap over, swap round, swing, switch, swop, to exchange, transfer, turn, turn about, turn around, turn round, vary, veer). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

trolla (bewitch, charm, do conjuring tricks, troll), bönfalla (adjure, beseech, entreat, implore, plead, pray, Sue). (various references)

   

Turkish

  

yolunu bulmak (find one's bearings, get around, get one's bearings, manage, unthread), yalvarmak (adjure, appeal, beg, beseech, crave, desire, entreat, implore, intercede, invoke, plead, pray, sit up and beg, solicit, supplicate), ruh çağırmak (conjure up, evoke, raise), rica etmek (adjure, appeal, ask, beg, beseech, bespeak, desire, entreat, implore, intercede, petition, plead, pray, request, Sue, sue for, supplicate), hokkabazlık yapmak (juggle), büyülemek (allure, bedazzle, beguile, bewitch, captivate, cast a spell on, catch up, charm, daze, dazzle, enamor, enamour, enchant, enthral, enthrall, entrance, fascinate, glamor, glamorize, glamour, hypnotize, inthral, spell, spellbind, voodoo, witch), afsunlamak (bewitch, enchant, hex). (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

чаклувати, благати (adjure, appeal, beg, beseech, crave, cry, deprecate, entreat, implore, intercede, invoke, obsecrate, petition, plead, supplicate), показувати фокуси (juggle, stunt). (various references)

   

Welsh

  

aswyno (beseech, charm). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Conjure

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

conjurare. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Conjure

Derivations

Words beginning with "conjure": conjured, conjurer, conjurers, conjures. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Conjure" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: concure, concurve, conduire, congur, congure, conjer, conjole, conjore, conjort, conjours, conjur, consure, conture, conuer, conur, nonjury, onjune, Shinjuro. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Conjure"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "conjure" (pronounced kÄ"njer)
3-n j erarranger, Avenger, challenger, changer, danger, deringer, Derringer, endanger, exchanger, ginger, Granger, harbinger, hinger, injure, manger, messenger, passenger, plunger, Ranger, scavenger, stranger.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Conjure

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "c-e-j-n-o-r-u"

-1 letter: jounce.

-2 letters: cornu, crone, junco, ounce, recon, rouen.

-3 letters: cero, cone, core, corn, cure, curn, ecru, euro, jeon, once, roue, rune, unco.

-4 letters: con, cor, cue, cur, ecu, eon, ern, jeu, joe, jun, nor, one, orc, ore, our, rec, roc, roe, rue, run, urn.

-5 letters: en, er, jo, ne, no, nu, oe, on, or, re.

 Words containing the letters "c-e-j-n-o-r-u"
 

+1 letter: conjured, conjurer, conjures, jouncier.

 

+2 letters: conjurers.

 

+3 letters: conjecture, surjection.

 

+4 letters: conjectural, conjectured, conjecturer, conjectures, conjuncture, surjections.

 

+5 letters: conjecturers, conjecturing, conjunctures.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern
5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Photo Album
7. Quotations: Fiction
8. Quotations: Non-fiction
9. Usage Frequency
10. Expressions
11. Expressions: Internet
12. Translations: Modern
13. Translations: Ancient
14. Derivations
15. Rhymes
16. Anagrams
17. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.