What does hoodooed mean?
Hoodooed means experiencing a run of bad luck, particularly when the misfortune seems connected to a curse, haunting, or hostile supernatural influence. In contemporary American English, the word is often humorous: if a machine repeatedly breaks down, a performer repeatedly makes mistakes, or a project encounters unexplained problems, someone may say they are hoodooed. It can also refer more seriously to being deceived or cheated, although that sense is less common today. The expression often carries a distinctly American, colloquial and superstitious tone, suggesting that adversity has been caused deliberately or mysteriously. It is especially effective in storytelling because it compresses a complicated series of frustrations into a vivid image of supernatural bad luck. Although related in sound and cultural atmosphere to voodoo, hoodoo is primarily a general term for curses, jinxes, and persistent misfortune rather than a name for a specific religious tradition.
To bring bad luck or misfortune upon someone, especially through a curse, jinx, or supernatural influence; also, to cheat or deceive someone.
"After losing his keys and missing the train, he was convinced someone had hoodooed him."
Commonly informal and chiefly American. The sense involving fraud is now less frequent than the sense of bad luck or a curse.
Affected by bad luck, a curse, or persistent misfortune.
"The hoodooed team finally won its first match of the season."
This is the past-participle form used attributively or predicatively.
If everything seems to go wrong, American English has a wonderfully superstitious word for it: hoodooed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of hoodooed
Hoodoo emerged in African American English in the United States and became especially widespread in the South during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its precise origin is uncertain, although it is often associated with African American spiritual traditions and may have been influenced by terms such as voodoo. The older sense referring to fraud or trickery developed alongside the more familiar sense of bad luck and supernatural punishment.
Related word forms
How hoodooed is actually used
The word is informal and particularly associated with American English, especially Southern and rural usage. It is often jocular or superstitious rather than literal, though it can describe serious fraud in older usage.
Easily confused with hoodooed
Hoodoo is an American English term for bad luck, curses, or supernatural harm, while voodoo more specifically denotes a religion and body of spiritual practices originating in the Caribbean and Louisiana.