geology A column of weathered and unusually shaped rock.

Roget 649: hurtfulness etc. adj.; virulence.    evil doer etc. 913; bane etc. 663; plague spot etc. (insalubrity) 657; evil star, ill wind; hoodoo; Jonah; snake in the grass, skeleton in the closet; amari aliquid [Lat.], thorn in the side.    malignity; malevolence etc. 907; tender mercies [Iron.].    ill-treatment, annoyance, molestation, abuse, oppression, persecution, outrage; misusage etc. 679; injury etc. (damage) 659; knockout drops [U.S.].    badness etc. adj.; peccancy^†, abomination; painfulness etc. 830; pestilence etc. (disease) 655; guilt etc. 947; depravity etc. 945.    ... show more

A practitioner of voodoo.

A charm superstitiously believed to embody magical powers.

synonyms: fetich, fetish, juju, voodoo.

Roget 992: sorcery; occult art, occult sciences; magic, the black art, necromancy, theurgy, thaumaturgy^†; demonology, demonomy^†, demonship^†; diablerie [Fr.], bedevilment; witchcraft, witchery; glamor; fetishism, fetichism, feticism^†; ghost dance, hoodoo; obi, obiism^†; voodoo, voodooism; Shamanism (Esquimaux), vampirism; conjuration; bewitchery, exorcism, enchantment, mysticism, second sight, mesmerism, animal magnetism; od force, odylic force^†; electrobiology^†, clairvoyance; spiritualism, spirit rapping, table turning.    divination etc. (prediction) 511; sortilege^†, ordeal, sortes Virgilianae^†; hocus-pocus etc. (deception) 545.    ... show more

Roget 994: sorcerer, magician; thaumaturgist^†, theurgist; conjuror, necromancer, seer, wizard, witch; hoodoo, voodoo; fairy etc. 980; lamia^†, hag.    warlock, charmer, exorcist, mage^†; cunning man, medicine man; Shaman, figure flinger, ecstatica^†; medium, clairvoyant, fortune teller; mesmerist; deus ex machina [Lat.]; soothsayer etc. 513.    Katerfelto, Cagliostro, Mesmer, Rosicrucian; Circe, siren, weird sisters.    ... show more

Dutch: fetisj
Polish: fetysz

Something believed to bring bad luck.

Bring bad luck; be a source of misfortune.

Roget 992: practice sorcery etc. n.; cast a nativity, conjure, exorcise, charm, enchant; bewitch, bedevil; hoodoo, voodoo; entrance, mesmerize, magnetize; fascinate etc. (influence) 615; taboo; wave a wand; rub the ring, rub the lamp; cast a spell; call up spirits, call up spirits from the vasty deep; raise spirits from the dead.    ... show more