scry means to magically or supernaturally look into or (as an entertainer) predict (the future), using crystal balls or other objects. It carries an Arena rating of 1656, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, scry ranks #2,645 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #2,745 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #3,302 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #3,882 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
scry is pronounced /skɹaɪ/.
Why “scry” is a great word
To practice divination by gazing into a reflective or translucent surface, such as water, a mirror, or a crystal ball, in order to perceive visions of the future or of distant events. From Middle English scrien, scryen, a shortened form of ascrien, from Old French escrier ("to cry out"), influenced by Middle English descrien ("to descry"). First recorded in English 1520–30. Unlike "divine" (which conjures a panoply of methods from entrails to dreams) or "foresee" (which suggests a natural, almost logical anticipation), to scry is to seek truth through a singular, sustained act of visual surrender. It is the still water in a black bowl drinking the candlelight, the cool weight of polished obsidian in the palm, the seer's own ghost staring back from a dark glass—a quiet communion with the possibility that every surface holds a secret, if only one learns to look without seeing.
Etymology
From Middle English scrien, scryen, a shortened form of Middle English ascrien, from Old French escrier (“to cry out”). Influenced by Middle English descrien (“to descry”).
verb
- To magically or supernaturally look into or (as an entertainer) predict (the future), using crystal balls or other objects.e.g.“The fortune teller claimed she could scry [into] the future.”
- To use magical means to see or look into (something that is happening outside one's sight, e.g. inside a building or far away, or in the distant past, or future, etc).e.g.“Scrying spells can simply toggle the state of hidden objects to the revealed state, […]” — 2014 April 22, Jeff Howard, Game Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 149:
- To descry; to see.
- To proclaim.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- scryer 83% match — One who divines, sees or predicts the future by means of a scrying tool; especially a crystal ball. vs scry →
- crystallomancy 64% match — The use of a crystal ball or other transparent solid for the purpose of divination. vs scry →
- enoptromancy 62% match — Divination by means of a mirror or other reflective surfaces. vs scry →
- seer 61% match — One who foretells the future; a clairvoyant, prophet, soothsayer or diviner. vs scry →
- clairvoyance 61% match — The power to see or perceive things, objects or events beyond the natural range of the senses, such as the past or the future. vs scry →
- soothsaying 60% match — A method of foretelling the future. vs scry →
- catoptromancy 60% match — Divination by use of mirrors, or other reflective surfaces. vs scry →
- aread 60% match — To soothsay, prophesy. vs scry →