Verbocculted their house from prying eyes by planting large trees around it the actor's private life had long been occulted by a contrived public persona Adjectiveoccult practices such as magic and fortune-telling He began to believe he had occult powers.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
The waning crescent Moon—just 9%-lit—will occult the planet Venus, but only for those in Madagascar. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 22 May 2022 During a full transit, which would last a few minutes, an Earth-size planet would occult the entire white dwarf. Avi Loeb, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2020 In July, 2017, the object occulted a star, and telescopes observed its tiny shadow passing across the star. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 7 Nov. 2017 And for some lucky sky-watchers in eastern Brazil and in central and southern Africa, the moon will occult the star.National Geographic, 1 May 2017
Adjective
Instead, Cobweb takes up residence in Gilbert's occult attraction, the Salem Magic Shoppe, a converted store that occupies the same building the Sanderson Sisters used to call home. Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 29 Aug. 2022 Jenna Coleman plays occult detective Johanna Constantine, as well as the character's 18th century ancestor. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 29 Aug. 2022 In particular, the 1980s and early 1990s were the heyday of the satanic panic, a baseless but widespread conspiracy theory that claimed a wave of occult crimes, from vandalism to murders, were secretly happening on a large scale across the country. David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Aug. 2022 Tom Sturridge stars as Dream/Morpheus, who’s captured in an occult ritual in the early 20th century and escapes 106 years later, setting about to rebuild his kingdom. Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Aug. 2022 It’s Romancing the Stone-style action, occult weirdness, and first love, with gorgeous Matt Smith art! Josh Weiss, Forbes, 18 July 2022 The setting of her new novel, Lapvona—a vaguely occult feudal village besieged by bandits and famine—allows Moshfegh to dial her gore levels up to 11. Jess Bergman, The New Republic, 22 June 2022 The festival — which also hosts art installations, film screenings, sound baths and other endeavors into the intergalactic, mystic and occult — will boast DJs set from Nosaj Thing and Telefon Tel Aviv alongside sets by clipping. Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2022 Screens and machines have since been banished, making way for a kind of old-world mysticism of sparkling dust, psychedelic lights and occult symbols — like a third eye, superimposed over the pubic triangle of the most enlightened. Peter Debruge, Variety, 3 June 2022
Noun
In Barker’s Britain, one quarter of the population had reported believing in some form of the occult. Ian Beacock, The New Republic, 25 Aug. 2022 Maybe there was a murmur about an underground occult-rock thing going on at the time. Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 1 Sep. 2022 The community was patriarchal and regimented; anything occult was frowned upon, as was alcohol.ELLE, 11 Aug. 2022 When their school’s beloved varsity quarterback disappears, the band members capitalize on their town’s sudden interest in the occult by building a reputation as a satanic metal band. Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Aug. 2022 When the killer rises from his grave, Watson and Holmes are thrown into the world of the occult. Chaise Sanders, Country Living, 2 Aug. 2022 Rosebud Films is developing multiple feature films projects, one of which is a psychological period piece focusing on the occult. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 22 June 2022 In the sprawling tale, Morpheus struggles to regain control of his Dream world after being captured by humans dabbling in the occult. Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, Washington Post, 6 July 2022 While rock music is often aligned with non-conformity and resistance, in a hyper-religious society like Nigeria, the genre is also branded as evil — or even associated with the occult. Ama Udofa, Rolling Stone, 19 June 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb
in part back-formation from occultation, in part continuing Middle English occulten "to keep secret, conceal," borrowed from Latin occultāre "to prevent from being seen, conceal, keep secret," frequentative derivative of occulere "to hide from view, conceal" — more at occult entry 2
Adjective
borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, borrowed from Latin occultus "hidden from sight, secret, esoteric," from past participle of occulere "to hide from view, conceal," from oc-, assimilated variant of ob-ob- + -culere, from a verb base *cel- "hide," going back to Indo-European *ḱel- "cover, conceal" — more at conceal