conjuring trick
1
4.9
- noun
- /ˈkɒndʒərɪŋ trɪk/
:
truco de magia
- During the show, the performer executed a brilliant conjuring trick that left everyone in awe.
But we believe we, we, we've been in a world in which it's, it's a kind of extraordinary conjuring trick wherever you look.
- But we believe we, we, we've been in a world in which it's, it's a kind of extraordinary conjuring trick wherever you look.
Examples
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The magician amazed the audience with a stunning conjuring trick that made a rabbit appear from an empty hat.
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The boom of the twelve-gauge was like the climax of a conjuring trick: the bushwhacker dove headfirst back under the overturned wagon and disappeared.
Fiction book (1992) -
Clearly, that was all some sort of cheap conjuring trick.
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I said right away that these are nothing but conjuring tricks!
Fiction book (1997) -
With another conjuring trick, the greatest lie of all: statistics.
Blog text (3) -
Then what's that, a cosmic conjuring trick?
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I sold papers, shined shoes, and did conjuring tricks...
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But we believe we, we, we've been in a world in which it's, it's a kind of extraordinary conjuring trick wherever you look.
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As Wittgenstein has put it, the most important move in the conjuring trick has been made, and it was the very one that we did not notice.
Academic text (1995) -
I couldn't figure out how he did that incredible conjuring trick with the cards disappearing and reappearing.
Synonyms
255
2.3
A clever act that looks like magic and entertains people
52
4.2
A magic trick that makes something look impossible
29
2.7
A performance that looks impossible and surprises people
3
9.9
A performance using quick, skilled hand movements to do magic tricks
3
6.7
A simple magic trick to amuse people at a small party
2
9.9
A skill of quick hand tricks to fool people, like a magician
1
9.9
A trick that looks like real magic and amazes people
How Magical
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a trick performed by a magician' is directly and transparently derived from 'conjure' (to produce or summon magically) combined with 'trick' (an acted feat creating an illusion); the composition maps neatly onto the definition. This is a productive adjective+noun construction with clear cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. 'truco de magia', 'tour de magie'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Conjuring trick comes from old magicians who were called 'conjurers' and seemed to make things appear or disappear by clever moves. So conjuring (making something look like magic) plus trick (a secret, clever move) explains why it means 'a magic act that looks impossible and is meant to amaze'.