incantate

I1N1C3A1N1T1A1T1E1

verb

To sing or speak formulas and/or rhyming words, often during occult ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits, producing enchantment, or creating other magical results.

OriginLatin incantātus →
Scrabble 11
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Meanings

verbincantate (third-person singular simple present incantates, present participle incantating, simple past and past participle incantated)

present singular third person incantates · participle present incantating · participle past incantated · past incantated

  1. ambitransitiveTo sing or speak formulas and/or rhyming words, often during occult ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits, producing enchantment, or creating other magical results.

    Your modern witch never incantates in public.

    1969, Status, numbers 218-227, Curtis Publishing Company
    2 more examples

    Yet these are words of magic incantated by a non-religious priest: a poet.

    1985, Glenda Abramson, Essays in Honour of Salo Rappaport: On the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday

    In his prose poem, Lessness, Beckett incantates a haunting description of total ruin.

    2010, S. Giora Shoham, To Test the Limits of Our Endurance

Origin

  1. Latinincantātus
  2. Englishincantate

First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin incantātus, perfect passive participle of incantō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of enchant and incant, cognate with French incantation.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Māori poa
  • poato recite formulas during ceremonies

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

tanacetin
Cite this entry
APA

incantate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incantate

MLA

“incantate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incantate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “incantate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incantate.

Source: incantate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.