as in witch
someone who is believed in some cultures to be able to use magic to cure people who are sick, to control future events, etc.
went to the shaman for a remedy
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Recent Examples of shaman
Researchers believe the structures served as elite burial sites for leaders, priests, or shamans, challenging earlier assumptions that Funnelbeaker societies were strictly egalitarian.
—
Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
By 1901, just seventeen years after contact with the outside world, shamans were cutting their hair, getting baptized, and taking Danish Christian names.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Season 1 draws from Hillerman’s novel Listening Woman about two people who are murdered in front of a blind shaman.
—Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
This horror blockbuster centers on a shaman who exhumes a grave in the hope of breaking a wealthy family's ancestral curse.
—Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shaman
Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
By 1901, just seventeen years after contact with the outside world, shamans were cutting their hair, getting baptized, and taking Danish Christian names.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Season 1 draws from Hillerman’s novel Listening Woman about two people who are murdered in front of a blind shaman.
—Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
This horror blockbuster centers on a shaman who exhumes a grave in the hope of breaking a wealthy family's ancestral curse.
—Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shaman
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shaman
Noun
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When medicine can't treat her cancer, a dying youngster (Zelda Adams) reaches out to a forest witch (Toby Poser) who uses dark magic to cheat death, but there's a serious cost involved in this rich and artfully crafted scary movie.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
6 Feb. 2026
-
There’s literal witches and second sight in his plays.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Other guests include John Oates of Hall & Oates fame, Tommy Thayer of KISS, magician Murray SawChuck and SIXWIRE.—
Ed Masley,
AZCentral.com,
12 Feb. 2026
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The first three weeks saw an 8-year-old aerialist, a 74-year-old comedian, a laser-performing duo from Vietnam and a Las Vegas magician who hung from the ceiling in a straitjacket.—
Itzel Luna,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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For years, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has been a wizard at designing blitzes that fool quarterbacks.—
Sam McDowell
February 5,
Kansas City Star,
5 Feb. 2026
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That was until April 2016, when Universal Studios Hollywood unveiled its own 200-foot-tall Hogwarts castle inspired by the beloved wizard.—
Kailyn Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The fantasy series follows the elf mage Frieren, who was part of a band of heroes recognized for defeating the Demon King.—
Christopher Rudolph,
PEOPLE,
16 Jan. 2026
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Interspersed throughout the main storyline, sequences depict how Trent Ikithon (Mark Strong) recruited the promising fire mage to join his magic academy, submit to painful experimentations to enhance his power, and eventually groomed him to become a Volstrucker assassin to hunt down dissidents.—
Nick Romano,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 Dec. 2025
Noun
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The women in the corps are swans because of a spell cast on them by a sorcerer named von Rothbart.—
David Lyman,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
5 Feb. 2026
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The board voted unanimously 10-10 to hand Mickey’s famous sorcerer’s hat to D’Amaro.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
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His warlock power is immense and intense.—
Lisa Stardust,
PEOPLE,
12 Jan. 2026
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He was raised Christian, converted to Judaism in his mid-30s, and later became an honorary warlock in the Church of Satan.—
Questlove,
The Atlantic,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The regulars fired at them with a booming 12-pounder that made the American boys lift their knees like old hags, trip and founder as tentacles of water dragged them under.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 Jan. 2026
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Is there a more ostentatious fat hag in America than Meghan McCain?—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
9 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shaman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shaman. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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