Note: This page may contain content that is offensive or inappropriate for some readers.

fetish

a Native American bear fetish, believed to have spiritual powers

fet·ish

(fĕt′ĭsh)

1. An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.

2. An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence: made a fetish of punctuality.

3. Something, such as a material object or nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification.

4. An abnormally obsessive preoccupation or attachment; a fixation.

[French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço, artificial, charm, from Latin factīcius, artificial; see factitious.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fetish

(ˈfɛtɪʃ; ˈfiːtɪʃ) or

fetich

1. (Anthropology & Ethnology) something, esp an inanimate object, that is believed in certain cultures to be the embodiment or habitation of a spirit or magical powers

a. a form of behaviour involving fetishism

b. any object that is involved in fetishism

3. any object, activity, etc, to which one is excessively or irrationally devoted: to make a fetish of cleanliness.

[C17: from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço (n) sorcery, from adj: artificial, from Latin factīcius made by art, factitious]

ˈfetish-ˌlike, ˈfetich-ˌlike adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fet•ish

(ˈfɛt ɪʃ, ˈfi tɪʃ)

n.

1. an object regarded as having magical power; talisman.

2. any object, idea, etc., eliciting unquestioning reverence or devotion: to make a fetish of sports.

3. an object or nongenital part of the body, as a shoe, or hank of hair, that is repeatedly preferred for achieving sexual excitement.

Sometimes, fet′ich.

[1690–1700; earlier fateish (< French fétiche) < Portuguese feitiço charm, sorcery (n.), artificial (adj.) < Latin factīcius factitious]

fet′ish•like`, adj.

fetish

An object believed to hold magical or spiritual power, especially one used by a shaman.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	fetish - a form of sexual desire in which gratification depends to an abnormal degree on some object or item of clothing or part of the body; "common male fetishes are breasts, legs, hair, shoes, and underwear" concupiscence, physical attraction, sexual desire, eros - a desire for sexual intimacy
	2.	fetish - a charm superstitiously believed to embody magical powers fetich, voodoo, juju, hoodoo good luck charm, charm - something believed to bring good luck
	3.	fetish - excessive or irrational devotion to some activity; "made a fetish of cleanliness" fetich devotion - commitment to some purpose; "the devotion of his time and wealth to science"

fetish

noun

1. fixation, obsession, mania, thing (informal), idée fixe (French) I've got a bit of a shoe fetish.

2. talisman, amulet, cult object Tribal elders carried the sacred fetishes.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

fetish

noun

1. A small object worn or kept for its supposed magical power:

amulet, charm, juju, periapt, phylactery, talisman.

2. An irrational preoccupation:

fixation, mania, obsession.

Informal: thing.

Translations

تَميمَه

fetišmodla

fetichmani

Fetisch

fetissifetiššipäähänpinttymätaikakalu

fétiche

fétis

blæti; skurîgoîtrúaratriîi, átrúnaîaratriîi

feticcio mania fissazione

fetišasstabas

fetišspielūgsmes objekts

besettelse fetisj

fetysz

fetiš

fetiştapınılan nesneçok fazla önemsenen şey

偶像恋物癖

fetish

[ˈfetɪʃ] N (= object of cult, sexual) → fetiche m (fig) (= obsession) → obsesión f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

fetish

[ˈfɛtɪʃ] n → fétiche m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

fetish

n → Fetisch m; to have a fetish for leather/cleanliness → einen Leder-/Sauberkeitstick haben (inf), → ein Leder-/Sauberkeitsfetischist m → sein; to make a fetish of something → einen Kult mit etw treiben, etw zum Fetisch machen or erheben

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

fetish

[ˈfɛtɪʃ] n (obsession) → fissazione f, mania; (object of cult) → feticcio

fetish

(ˈfetiʃ) noun

1. an object worshipped, especially because a spirit is supposed to lodge in it.

2. something which is regarded with too much reverence or given too much attention. It is good to dress well, but there is no need to make a fetish of it.

fetish

n fetiche m

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

What is the fetish of the hour that all the bourgeoisie recognise - eh, Mr Verloc?"

View in context

This attic was Maggie's favorite retreat on a wet day, when the weather was not too cold; here she fretted out all her ill humors, and talked aloud to the worm-eaten floors and the worm-eaten shelves, and the dark rafters festooned with cobwebs; and here she kept a Fetish which she punished for all her misfortunes.

View in context

He cast down the fetish of exercise, damning with the contemptuous word pot-hunters all those who devoted themselves to its various forms; and Philip did not realise that he was merely putting up in its stead the other fetish of culture.

View in context

Take that herd over to the fetish" (the storehouse was in every station called the fetish, perhaps because of the spirit of civilization it contained) "and give them up some of the rubbish you keep there.

View in context

And of course it is all unanswerable, and as I ride along through the evening shadows I sneer at that Great Fetish which Comte called the world.

View in context

It was those fetish fellows who worked the mischief and he

View in context

Jacob, to whom this once indifferent brother had all at once become a sort of sweet-tasted fetish, stroked David's best coat with his adhesive fingers, and then hugged him with an accompaniment of that mingled chuckling and gurgling by which he was accustomed to express the milder passions.

View in context

The wave of rebellion swept over me in an instant, beginning with an heretical doubt as to the sanctity of the established order of things--that fetish which has ruled Pan-Americans for two centuries, and which is based upon a blind faith in the infallibility of the prescience of the long-dead framers of the articles of Pan-American federation--and ending in an adamantine determination to defend my honor and my life to the last ditch against the blind and senseless regulation which assumed the synonymity of misfortune and treason.

View in context

I had uttered prayers, fetish prayers, had prayed as heathens mutter charms when I was in extremity; but now I prayed indeed, plead- ing steadfastly and sanely, face to face with the darkness of God.

View in context

The transformation of a regimental badge like your Red Bull into a sort of fetish that the boy follows is very interesting.'

View in context

He now proceeded to unbutton his fetish, to attack it with a periknife, and to thrust the new-found plans between the two layers of imitation Saxony flannel of which it was made.

View in context

He had a little round picture of the identical gray horse, caparisoned with the identical pillion, before which he used to do a sort of fetish worship, and abuse turnpike-roads and carriages.

View in context