Meanings
plural witches' Sabbaths · alternative witches' Sabbat
- A supposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy.
Near-synonym: Black Mass
Synonyms: black Sabbath, Black Mass, sabbat
- A religious gathering of a Wiccan coven at a covenstead or circle
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA supposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna midnight meeting of witches to practice witchcraft and sorcery; in the Middle Ages it was supposed to be a demonic orgy
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
The phrase is first attested in the seventeenth century, but was popularized only from the 20th century onwards.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque akelarre
- akelarresupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Catalan aquelarre
- aquelarresupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Dutch heksensabbat
- heksensabbatsupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Finnish noitasapatti
- noitasapattisupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
French sabbat
- sabbatsupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
German Hexensabbat
- Hexensabbatsupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Italian sabba
- sabbasupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Portuguese aquelarre
- aquelarresupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Spanish aquelarre
- aquelarresupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Swedish häxsabbat
- häxsabbatsupposed meeting of witches at midnight to practice sorcery or to take part in a demonic orgy
Cite this entry
witches' Sabbath. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/witches'%20Sabbath
“witches' Sabbath.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/witches'%20Sabbath. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “witches' Sabbath,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/witches'%20Sabbath.
Source: witches' Sabbath on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.