Part of speech:

Noun, most often the uncountable kind: "By lending your money out while saying it's still in your account, banks create money. That seems like prestidigitation."

Sometimes it's a countable noun. Here's Time: "the computer’s high-speed prestidigitations."

Other forms: 

People who perform prestidigitation are "prestidigitators."

There's an implied verb here, "prestidigitate," but it's extremely rare and not recognized by all dictionaries. Still, use it if you like! Its other forms would be "prestidigitated" and "prestidigitating," as in "How long should we sit here watching him prestidigitating?"

Dictionaries recognize three adjectives, so you can take your pick: "prestidigital," "prestidigitatory," and the supremely silly "prestidigitatorial." Yes, you'll find those in the OED.

Do you need an adverb? You could talk about things that happen "prestidigitally," "prestidigitatorily," "or "prestidigitorially." You won't find those in a dictionary, but I hope you never let that stop you.

Pick the rare, academic-sounding, ridiculously stagey word "prestidigitation" when you want to call lots of attention to someone's lies or manipulation, comparing them to a stage magician who tricks the audience into believing that the impossible is true.

You could say that someone pulls off an act of prestidigitation, or a feat of prestidigitation. 

If you like, add an adjective and talk about, say, linguistic prestidigitation, or political, rhetorical, athletic, or cinematic prestidigitation. Here's the Seattle Times: "Raimi — in a marvelous act of movie prestidigitation — has pulled a cute rabbit from the old Disney hat."

And of course, you can use the word literally. Here's the Washington Times: "[David Copperfield's] prestidigitations got progressively grander over the years, culminating in his making the Statue of Liberty 'disappear' in 1983." But could you just say "tricks" instead? Probably.

examples:

"A video showing Madeon’s prestidigitation on the Novation Launchpad — an audio control panel with 64 blinking buttons — made him a sensation."  
  — Ben Sisario, New York Times, 26 August 2012

"Mike Pence... offered a master class in evangelical biblical interpretation... creating a hybrid verse clearly designed to give the impression of being a single verse... [and] ignoring the context of the two verses... Still, the biggest act of prestidigitation is yet to come." 
   — Brandon R. Grafius, Salon, 27 August 2023

has this page helped you understand "prestidigitation"?

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 "prestidigitation" without saying "sleight of hand" or "trickery."

try it out:

Way back in 1995, Entertainment Weekly reported on the state of special effects in the movies:

"With all of these boutiques of electronic prestidigitation now available to studios, it's not uncommon for a director to beef up an explosion with digitally simulated shock waves, make a sky cloudy or clear, [etc.]."

Doesn't that seem terribly quaint? Extra shock waves, and some fake clouds?

See if you can give some examples of more recent, more impressive acts of prestidigitation that you've witnessed in movies these days.

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 "Words On Words On Birds."

Use your knowledge of vocabulary to answer questions about the terminology describing names for birds.

Try this today:

Which bird name below is a tautonym?

A. Pandion haliaetus
B. Chaetura pelagica
C. Leucocirca leucophrys
D. Phoenicurus phoenicurus

Need a hint? Highlight the hidden text: Consider the meaning of the word "tautological."

To see the answer, scroll all the way down. 

review this word:

1. A near opposite of PRESTIDIGITAL could be

A. SARDONIC (bitter or mocking, with mean or faked humor).
B. DASTARDLY (wicked, especially in a sneaky, cowardly way).
C. ABOVEBOARD (open and honest, as if holding one's hands where everyone else can see them).

2. Jon Healey has described the cryptocurrency market as, arguably, "all prestidigitation, the _____ of money from nothing."

A. printing
B. conjuring
C. inventing

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. B From the game: Which bird name below is a tautonym? A. Pandion haliaetus B. Chaetura pelagica C. Leucocirca leucophrys D. Phoenicurus phoenicurus is the correct answer. A tautonym has the same name for both the genus and the species. So it sounds tautological: that is, repetitive for no apparent reason.

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.