Definition of "voodoo" []

• A religion practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries, especially Haiti, syncretized from Roman Catholic ritual elements and the animism and magic of slaves from West Africa, in which a supreme God rules a large pantheon of local and tutelary deities, deified ancestors, and saints, who communicate with believers in dreams, trances, and ritual possessions. Also called vodoun. (noun)
• A charm, fetish, spell, or curse holding magic power for adherents of voodoo. (noun)
• A practitioner, priest, or priestess of voodoo. (noun)
• Deceptive or delusive nonsense. (noun)
• To place under the influence of a spell or curse; bewitch. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The word is vodun in Creole French, the source of the word voodoo as it is misinterpreted and misrepresented in English and Western thought."
• "HOODOO A variation of the word voodoo used commonly in the southern United States."
• "Unfortunately, as a result of the sensational and inaccurate interpretations in the media, Hollywood in particular, the word voodoo has come to represent a fantasy of black magic and sorcery."