occult

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English

WOTD – 14 January 2010

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin occultus (“hidden, secret”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɒk.ʌlt/, /əˈkʌlt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /əˈkʌlt/
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌlt

Verb

occult (third-person singular simple present occults, present participle occulting, simple past and past participle occulted)

  1. (transitive, astronomy) To cover or hide from view.
    The Earth occults the Moon during a lunar eclipse.
  2. (transitive, rare) To dissimulate, conceal, or obfuscate.

Translations

Adjective

occult (comparative more occult, superlative most occult)

  2. (medicine) Secret; hidden from general knowledge; undetected.
    occult blood loss; occult cancer
    • 1860, Isaac Taylor, “Mind in Form”, in Ultimate Civilization‎, page 178:
      This counter-influence is so much more conclusive […] because it is of an occult kind, and is so insensible in its advances as to escape observation.
  3. Related to the occult; pertaining to mysticism, magic, or astrology.
    • 2017, Pao Chang, Word Magic: The Powers & Occult Definitions of Words, →OCLC:
      Be aware that occult knowledge can be used for good or evil purposes.
  4. Esoteric.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

occult (uncountable)

  1. (usually with "the") Supernatural affairs.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱel-‎ (2 c, 2 e)
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