Conjure

How to spell conjure

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce conjure

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does conjure mean?

1. verbTo make something appear or happen as if by magic, or to summon a spirit or image.

Conjure in a sentence

• The chef seemed to conjure a three-course meal from almost nothing.

• Old photographs can conjure memories of a childhood home.

Where does conjure come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin coniurare, which literally meant 'to swear together', built from com- 'together' and iurare 'to swear' (the same root that gives us 'jury' and 'perjury'). Its earliest sense was thoroughly legal and conspiratorial: people who 'conjured' had bound themselves by a shared oath, often to plot something. English took it in through Old French conjurer in the 1200s, and the meaning drifted from swearing an oath together to solemnly invoking or commanding a supernatural power by oath, as a magician might compel a spirit. From there it softened into the familiar modern sense of summoning something up as if by magic. The silent feel of the unstressed ending is the spelling trap: it is spelled -jure (preserving the old 'swear' root), not -jur or -jore.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• jure (from Latin iurare: to swear)