Sorceresses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Female practitioners of magic or witchcraft who often possess supernatural abilities to influence events or individuals
2. Women skilled in the art of sorcery, using spells and enchantments to achieve powerful effects on the natural world
3. Individuals, typically female, who command mystical forces, wielding their knowledge to perform acts that defy natural laws

Etymology: "Sorceresses" is the plural of "sorceress," a noun for a female practitioner of sorcery. The singular was borrowed into Middle English as "sorceresse" from Anglo-Norman, the form of French spoken in England after the Norman Conquest. That borrowing shows a feminine ending, "-esse," attached to a base noun, "sorcer," which came into Anglo-Norman from Old French and descends from Latin "sortiarius," a person who casts lots, a diviner by drawing lots. Sorcery thus began in the idea of fortune-telling by chance, and the feminine form carries that older sense of divination with it. The English plural "sorceresses" simply adds "-es" to the singular, as English does for nouns ending in "-s" or similar sibilants.

Synonyms: witches, enchantresses, magicians, spellcasters, sorcerers

Antonyms: muggles, nonmagical