conjure means the practice of magic; hoodoo; conjuration.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, conjure ranks #2,213 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,356 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words.
conjure is pronounced /ˈkʌn.d͡ʒə/.
Why “conjure” is a great word
To summon or bring forth, especially a spirit or an idea, as if by magic or invocation. From Middle English conjuren, from Old French conjurer, from Latin coniūrō ("to swear together; conspire"), from con- ("with, together") + iūro ("to swear or take an oath"). Unlike "invoke," which implies a solemn appeal to higher authority, or "evoke," which suggests a subtler drawing-out of memory or mood, "conjure" is a word of specific, almost theatrical creation. It is the magician's flourish that makes the impossible momentarily visible, the writer's desperate bargain with silence, and the sudden, inexplicable arrival of a face called up complete and breathing from the smoke of a song—the fragile, fleeting triumph of presence willed from nothing, sustained only by breath and belief.
Etymology
From Middle English conjuren, from Old French conjurer, from Latin coniūrō (“to swear together; conspire”), from con- (“with, together”) + iūro (“to swear or take an oath”).
noun
- The practice of magic; hoodoo; conjuration.
verb
- To perform magic tricks.“He started conjuring at the age of 15, and is now a famous stage magician.”
- To summon (a devil, etc.) using supernatural power.
- To practice black magic.“"Thou great Norman lump!" he muttered. "If I conjure till Doomsday, I cannot make thee gold."”
- To enchant or bewitch.
- To evoke.
- To imagine or picture in the mind.“There was a deep silence, while Helen's vivid fancy conjured up the scene. She knew the small neat room—she had been with Mrs. Palmer to see it; the cheerful garden filled with flowers, the hum of the distant play-ground, the rosy clusters of an acacia-tree, whose branches almost came in at the window;...”
- To make an urgent request to; to appeal to or beseech.“I conjure you, let him know, / Whate'er was done against him, Cato did it.”
- To conspire or plot.“Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons / Conjured against the Highest.”
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