HomeServicesBlogDictionariesContactSpanish Course
← Back to search

Meaning of Hoodoo | Babel Free

Noun CEFR C2 Specialized
ˈhuːduː

Definitions

  1. A set of spiritual practices and traditions created and concealed from slave-owners by enslaved Africans in North America, based on traditional African beliefs.
  2. A practitioner of voodoo.
  3. Supernatural bad luck, or something or someone believed to bring bad luck.
  4. A tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of arid basins and badlands.

Equivalents

العربية الشّؤم
Français cheminée de fée
日本語 土柱
Português chaminé de fada
Русский худу

Examples

“The three men wondered whether they would find Colson at Taylor's Creek. They felt that a hoodoo hung over the place.”
“It was even larger than the mirage made it look—a dozen miles across and a thousand feet deep, with fins and towers and hoodoos like observation posts, mesas and minor buttes, springs flowing brightly in the red rock.”
“This park’s strange and beautiful rock formations were formed by the Yellowstone River and various streams that have cut through the rock over millions of years, carving out hoodoos, spires and caprocks. The name Makoshika comes from a Lakota word for badlands.”

CEFR level

C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.
See all C2 English words →

See also

Learn this word in context

See Hoodoo used in real conversations inside our free language course.

Start Free Course

Know this word better than we do? Language is a living thing — help us keep it growing. Collaborate with Babel Free