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familiar

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

A spirit that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fuhmilyer

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

fəˈmɪljɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. witchcraft

    An attendant spirit, often in animal or demon form.

  2. A spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard

  3. A member of a pope's or bishop's household.

adjective

  1. Well known or easily recognized

  2. Known to one, or generally known; commonplace.

  3. Of or pertaining to a family; familial.

  4. Intimate or friendly.

  5. Acquainted.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (witchcraft) An attendant spirit, often in animal or demon form.

Used this way, familiar is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • familiar spirit , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use familiar

  • “Familiar ordinary objects found in every home.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

become familiarfamiliar voicefamiliar facefamiliar figurefamiliar wordsfamiliar examplefamiliar termsfamiliar form

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • familiaritynounDerived noun · specialist

    Personal knowledge or information about someone or something.

  • familiarizeverbDerived verb

    Make familiar or conversant with.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • familiar spiritnounCompound term

    A spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: attendant spirit or often in animal

familiar spiritRareassociate

Antonyms

noun

Sense: attendant spirit or often in animal

unfamiliar

adjective

Sense: well known or easily recognized

unfamiliar

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.