You probably already know the word conjure.

But wait! Could you break it down into its Latin bits and give their original meaning? And could you connect it to some closely related words? And, on a scale from, let's say, Hermione Granger to Circe, could you explain how witchy it is?

I couldn't answer those questions myself, despite loving the word conjure and its obvious mysticism, so I figured I'd do some research and love it even more in the process. 

Let's start with the Latin bits. To conjure, in the most literal sense, is to "swear together." You'll recognize that familiar prefix con-, meaning "together;" and then the rest of the word traces to the Latin iuris, meaning "a law, a right, an oath."

That's the same iuris that gives us the words jury, juror, injury (literally something "not right or not lawful"), and a_jur_ (literally "to swear to," and today meaning "to tell or ask people to do something earnestly").

Now for the witchiness. Conjure is so witchy. How witchy is it? It's so witchy that it dates back at least as far as the year 1325 to a text about a necromancer conjuring two demonic horses. At least, that's what I think is happening; the English is so old that it's hard to understand:

"A maystyr nigromacien.
That conjuryd, as I yow telle,
Thorwgh the feendes craft of helle,
Twoo stronge feendes of the eyr
In lyknesse of twoo stedes feyr,
Lyke bothe of hewe and here."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

"Conjure" has Latin bits that mean "to swear together," or less literally, "to conspire, to make an oath or an agreement together."

In English, "conjure" goes back for many centuries and has taken on many, many meanings, but one of the oldest and most enduring is "to use magic to bring forth some mystical being, such as a demon or a ghost."

So, today, when you say that someone conjures something, you mean they create it or bring it into being, as if with magic.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "Can you conjure up a rainstorm?" "On Star Trek, and in Harry Potter, you can't just conjure things like food or clothes; you have to transform them."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "conjured" and "conjuring."

People who conjure are "conjurers" or "conjurors;" we use both spellings.

And the act of conjuring is "conjuration" or "conjury." I like the sound of "conjury," but "conjuration" is more common.

how to use it:

Pick the clear, common, easily understood word "conjure" when you want to hint that someone has a magic talent as they create something or bring it into being.

Talk about people conjuring things, or conjuring things up, or conjuring things into existence.

More specifically, you might talk about people conjuring certain solutions, stories, characters, images, feelings, or memories.

"Conjure" is particularly appropriate when you want to imply that that people are, quite unreasonably, expecting magic to happen. "I only have 24 hours in a day; I can't conjure more." Here's the BBC: "You can't conjure a cow overnight... a young female cow needs two years before she is able to produce a calf."

examples:

"For you to talk to his ghost, I'd have to conjure him."
  — Angie Thomas, Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy, 2023

"It's not even difficult to use AgentGPT or similar bot-creating software to conjure up entirely new programs designed specifically to the user's liking."
  — Joe Tauke, Salon, 28 July 2024

has this page helped you understand "conjure"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "conjure" without saying "summon" or "create."

try it out:

Talk about a song you love and the images and feelings it conjures for you.

I love the song "Hotel California." For me, it conjures up striking visual images—pink champagne, dreamlike dancers in the courtyard, and a faceless beast that slips away from knives trying to stab it—along with feelings of exhilaration, longing, and nostalgia.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Coaxed into a Haiku!"

I'll give you the basics of a news story, and you boil the story down into a haiku.

You can take full creative license here, omitting or warping the facts, adding dialogue, using slang, cursing, and/or burying the lede. Just do your best to fit the story into a three-line poem of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, respectively.

For example, if I give you…

"State ban on tattooing face, neck is unconstitutional, lawsuit says. A tattoo company and two South Carolina residents sued officials over the state's tattooing restrictions, alleging in part that barring artists from tattooing a person's head, face or neck violates the right to free expression under the First Amendment."
  — BrieAnna J. Frank, USA Today, 17 July 2026

Then you could give me...

   Facial tattoos! Whoop!
   Worst Carolina says no…
   But, Constitution!

Try this one today...

"The secret economics inside the new Planet Money board game. Move over Monopoly, there's a new economics-themed game in town! Last year, Planet Money partnered with the company Exploding Kittens to create a board game. We've been documenting the whole thing in a podcast series. Well, that game is now on the shelves of various stores. It's called Sell Me A Sasquatch."
  — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 11 August 2026

To see one possible haiku, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. One opposite of CONJURE in both its literal and looser meanings is

A. DESPISE (to look down on, or to hate).
B. EXORCISE (to banish or get rid of, as if by magic).
C. IMMISERATE (to send deeper into poverty or misery).

2. In a novel by Erik Larson, a man "walked with confidence and dressed well, conjuring an impression of wealth and achievement." By picking the word "conjuring," Larson's narrator implies that the man _____.

A. wields some kind of mystical power
B. is mathematically precise in his movements
C. has practiced for years to achieve this impression

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. A From the game: If you're happy with your haiku, then you succeeded! Here's mine:    Monopoly sucks.    Planet Money makes a game.    Economics… fun?

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.