sorcerer

[ sawr-ser-er ]

noun

1. a person who practices sorcery; black magician; wizard.

sorcerer

/ ˈsɔːsərə; ˈsɔːsərɪs /

noun

1. a person who seeks to control and use magic powers; a wizard or magician

Other Words From

• under·sorcer·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sorcerer¹

1520–30; earlier sorcer, Middle English < Middle French sorcier, perhaps < Vulgar Latin *sortiārius one who casts lots, equivalent to Latin sort- (stem of sors ) lot, fate + -i- -i- + -ārius -ier ²; -er ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of sorcerer¹

C16: from Old French sorcier, from Vulgar Latin sortiārius (unattested) caster of lots, from Latin sors lot

Example Sentences

As ruler of the dream world, he holds hidden power over all mankind – until a human sorcerer manages to trap him and imprison him on Earth for more than 100 years.

From Washington Blade

In a passing exchange, Doctor Strange tells Peter Parker that Wong is now Sorcerer Supreme after Strange was snapped out of existence for five years.

From Vox

Or, worse still, this is a different sorcerer masquerading as Doctor Strange.

From Time

On a large scale, the Internet reminds me a bit of the Mirror of Erised, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

From Nautilus

Russo said the hardest character to write was the main antagonist of the movie and the series, the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung.

From Washington Post

America was like a “sorcerer,” he said, holding other nations under its powerful spell to keep them from supporting the rebels.

From The Daily Beast

The evil sorcerer Gargamel—and his cat Azrael—always hover nearby, in the hopes of kidnapping them.

From The Daily Beast

Peter MacNichol stars as Galen, an impressively earnest, blotchy, and incompetent sorcerer's apprentice.

From The Daily Beast

Early in the year, Hagrid brings a package to Hogwarts, the Sorcerer's Stone, which grants immortality.

From The Daily Beast

She describes him as a dangerous sectarian, a veritable sorcerer, and the evil genius of one of her own relatives.

From Project Gutenberg

He positively passed among them for a sorcerer; he had even been given the title of an 'insectivist.'

From Project Gutenberg

It was the contrivance of a white-faced thing, a sorcerer, that dwelt in that country in the Wood of Eld.

From Project Gutenberg

Wonderful stories are told by the later chroniclers of a certain Eudo de Stella, who had acquired great notoriety as a sorcerer.

From Project Gutenberg

Then they put the two halves of the Sorcerer into it and covered him up.

From Project Gutenberg

More About Sorcerer

What does sorcerer mean?

A sorcerer is a person who can perform sorcery—witchcraft or magic.

The word sorcerer can be used for any gender, but it typically refers to a man. The word sorceress refers to a woman who performs sorcery.

The word sorcery often (though not always) refers to so-called black magic—magic used for evil purposes. That’s why sorcerer and sorceress are often used to refer to evil characters in works of fiction, especially in the fantasy genre.

In contrast, similar words like wizard and magician usually imply that such figures use their powers for good. If not, you’d usually call them an evil wizard or evil magician. 

Apart from whether or not they use their supernatural powers for good or evil, the words sorcerer and sorceress often imply that such a person is very powerful due to having great skill and command of such powers.

For this reason, the word sorcerer is sometimes used in a figurative way to refer to a person who is very skilled at something, as if they have magical abilities, as in Chris is a sorcerer at coding. The word sorcery can be used to refer to such skill. The words wizard and wizardry are used (even more commonly) in the same ways.

Example: The sorcerer has cast a powerful spell to enchant this land.

Where does sorcerer come from?

The first records of the word sorcerer come from the 1520s. An earlier (and now no longer used) form of the word is sorcer. The word sorceress is recorded earlier than both of these, in the second half of the 1300s. All three words ultimately come from the Latin sortiārius, meaning “person who casts lots” (referring to a person who tells fortunes).

Fictionally speaking, a sorcerer is a magician (the kind who wields supernatural powers, not the kind who does card tricks). Sorcerers are often villains in the stories where they appear, but this is not always the case. Sorcerer only sometimes implies evil, but it always implies great magical power and skill. The figurative use of the word usually doesn’t imply evil. When you call a chef a sorcerer, it’s a compliment meaning that they use their skill to make magic in the kitchen—not that they use their powers for evil.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to sorcerer?

• sorceress (female version)
• sorcery (noun)

 

What are some synonyms for sorcerer?

• magician
• wizard
• conjurer
• witch

What are some words that share a root or word element with sorcerer? 

 

• sorcerous
• ensorcell

What are some words that often get used in discussing sorcerer?

 

• evil
• powerful
• power
• magic
• spell
• fantasy
• skill

How is sorcerer used in real life?

Sorcerers most commonly appear (and disappear) in the context of fantasy.

i love the trope where people think of emrys as an untouchable being who can do no wrong bc he’s this all powerful sorcerer but then come to realise merlin is just a human who eats too fast and trips over air and gets the flu and makes mistakes just like a normal person does

— zhu (@doseofmerlin) July 5, 2020

What did we just watch? Jae Crowder is some kind of sorcerer. pic.twitter.com/hXEYndfLTk

— Jake Lee (@jacobrexlee) January 24, 2019

The virus succeeded where previous efforts to limit women’s ascendancy in the workplace failed: in a scenario so perfect it’s almost as if a misogynistic sorcerer conjured it in a dungeon, a global pandemic may be the impetus for booting working moms from the workplace altogether https://t.co/GDTj3XkqaE

— Jacklyn Wille (@JacklynWille) July 8, 2020

 

 

Try using sorcerer!

True or False? 

Sorcerers are always evil.