noun
Meaning 1
An evil, harmful, or widely feared person or thing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
Voldemort
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈvəʊldəˌmɔː(t)/
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General-American: /ˈvoʊldəˌmɔɹ(t)/
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CMU ARPABET: V OW1 L D AH0 M AO2 R T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
verb
Meaning 2
To avoid naming someone or something directly; to use circumlocution.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
After the evil wizard Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, coined by author J. K. Rowling as a compound of French vol de mort (“a flight or theft from death”). Voldemort's birth name is Tom Marvolo Riddle; an anagram of it is "I am Lord Voldemort". The verb sense comes from the fact that in the story, many characters refuse to call Voldemort by his proper name, calling him euphemisms such as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or "You-Know-Who". Also, Voldemort puts a spell on his own name that alerts him when others speak it.