séance
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From French séance (“sitting, session”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
séance (plural séances)
- 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.
- (dated) The sitting of an assembly to discuss a matter.
Translations edit
a ceremony where people try to communicate with the spirits
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Verb edit
séance (third-person singular simple present séances, present participle séancing, simple past and past participle séanced)
- To hold a séance (communication with spirits).
Anagrams edit
French edit
Etymology edit
From séant + -ance, possibly corresponding to Latin sedentia.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
séance f (plural séances)
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
- → English: séance
- → German: Séance
- → Hungarian: szeánsz
- → Norwegian Bokmål: seanse
- → Polish: seans
- → Russian: сеанс (seans)
- → Turkish: seans
Further reading edit
- “séance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.