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witchcraft

Belief in possibility of or attempts to trigger supernatural processes not possible per natural laws; alleged or fictional practice of magical skills and abilities

EntityQ259745

Also known as witchery · spellcraft · magic

Subclass of: superstition
, magic
, belief
+2 more

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. Though the idea of witchcraft is largely imaginary, it has nevertheless served in many cultures as a way to explain the presence of evil. The belief in witches has been found throughout history in a great number of societies worldwide. Most of these societies have used protective magic or counter-magic against witchcraft, and have shunned, banished, imprisoned, physically punished or killed alleged witches. Anthropologists use the term "witchcraft" for similar beliefs about harmful occult practices in different cultures, and these societies often use the term when speaking in English.

Overview

All data

71 statements · 15% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Said to be the same as: siḥr
spell
Practiced by: practitioner of witchcraft
witch
warlock
EntitySchema for this class: E530
E531

On other databases

54 identifiers linking witchcraft across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

15%

externally sourced

Source last edited September 30, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). witchcraft (Q259745). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/witchcraft-Q259745