Thesaurus / hocus-pocus
EXAMPLE SENTENCES FROM THE WEB
First negatively, it has not been done by any artificial means or legislative hocus-pocus (applause).
It is hocus-pocus, a sort of social magic formula like the "mutabor" in the Arabian Nights; it is an Aladdins-lamp philosophy.
THE BEHAVIOR OF CROWDSEVERETT DEAN MARTIN
He complains that Gautier is lacking in a concern about supernatural hocus-pocus and that Flaubert is lacking.
INSTIGATIONSEZRA POUND
"There's some hocus-pocus about this," whispered Trask, as he and Locke moved forward for a private talk.
ISLE O' DREAMSFREDERICK F. MOORE
But love was beginning its usual hocus-pocus with character and turning a tired business man into a restless swain.
THE CUP OF FURYRUPERT HUGHES
"In respect to this hocus-pocus of yours, sir, with the laudanum and Mr. Franklin Blake," he began.
THE MOONSTONEWILKIE COLLINS
He shrieked: 'Hic hocus pocus,' parodying the 'Hoc corpus meum' of the Mass.
THE FIFTH QUEENFORD MADOX FORD
It would be a purely formal process—like renaming a "hocus-pocus" and calling it two "Abracadabras."
SOCIAL VALUEB. M. ANDERSON
By no trick of managers, no hocus-pocus of politicians, no "mush of concession," can we be released from this obedience.
CHARLES SUMNER; HIS COMPLETE WORKS, VOLUME III (OF 20)CHARLES SUMNER
By some hocus-pocus known to accomplished politicians, this city has had no Mayor since the 4th of June, 1867.
WORDS RELATED TO HOCUS-POCUS
- apparition
- bubble
- chimera
- confusion
- daydream
- deception
- delusion
- déjà vu
- error
- fallacy
- false impression
- fancy
- fantasy
- figment of imagination
- ghost
- hallucination
- head trip
- hocus-pocus
- idolism
- ignus fatuus
- image
- invention
- make-believe
- mirage
- misapprehension
- misbelief
- misconception
- misimpression
- mockery
- myth
- optical illusion
- paramnesia
- phantasm
- pipe dream
- rainbow
- seeming
- semblance
- trip
- virtual reality
- apparition
- bubble
- chimera
- confusion
- daydream
- deception
- delusion
- déjà vu
- error
- fallacy
- false impression
- fancy
- fantasy
- figment of imagination
- ghost
- hallucination
- head trip
- hocus-pocus
- idolism
- ignus fatuus
- image
- invention
- make-believe
- mirage
- misapprehension
- misbelief
- misconception
- misimpression
- mockery
- myth
- optical illusion
- paramnesia
- phantasm
- pipe dream
- rainbow
- seeming
- semblance
- trip
- virtual reality
- artifice
- bunk
- cheating
- chicane
- chicanery
- corruption
- craft
- craftiness
- criminality
- crookedness
- cunning
- deceit
- deviousness
- double-dealing
- duplicity
- faithlessness
- falsehood
- falsity
- flimflam
- fourberie
- fraud
- fraudulence
- graft
- guile
- hanky-panky
- hocus-pocus
- improbity
- infamy
- infidelity
- insidiousness
- mendacity
- perfidiousness
- perfidy
- racket
- rascality
- shadiness
- sharp practice
- shiftiness
- slyness
- sneakiness
- stealing
- swindle
- treachery
- trickery
- trickiness
- underhandedness
- unscrupulousness
- wiliness
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.