séance

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See also: seance and Séance

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From French séance (sitting, session).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈseɪˌɑns/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

séance (plural séances)

  1. A ceremony where people try to communicate with the spirits of dead people, usually led by a medium.
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 231:
      [B]ut only too often séances degenerate into pure sorcery or necromancy, attracting all kinds of undeveloped and earth-bound entities.
  2. (dated) The sitting of an assembly to discuss a matter.

Translations

Verb

séance (third-person singular simple present séances, present participle séancing, simple past and past participle séanced)

  1. To hold a séance (communication with spirits).

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From séant +‎ -ance, possibly corresponding to Latin sedentia.

Pronunciation

Noun

séance f (plural séances)

  1. session

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Crimean Tatar: seans
  • English: séance
  • German: Séance
  • Hungarian: szeánsz
  • Indonesian: séance
  • Norwegian Bokmål: seanse
  • Polish: seans
  • Russian: сеанс (seans)
  • Swedish: seans
  • Turkish: seans

Further reading

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French séance (session), from Latin sedentia.

Noun

séance

  1. séance: spiritual meeting

Further reading