fortune teller

noun

variants or less commonly fortune-teller

ˈfȯr-chən-ˌte-lər 

plural fortune tellers also fortune-tellers

: someone or something with the supposed ability to foretell future events and especially the details of a person's future

For thousands of years, people have gone to fortune tellers because they wanted to know whom they would marry or whether they were going to be rich or famous.

—Muse

Some of the fortune-tellers he encounters are ludicrously off the mark; others are uncannily accurate.

—Michael Upchurch

You do not have to be a fortune teller to realize that sneezes, sniffles, plugged up noses and red eyes will be making their appearance in most of our houses within the next two months.

—Glenn Haege

By the early 1900s it was possible to get a "psychic reading" from a mechanical fortune teller at the local penny arcade.

—Ralph and Terry Koval

sometimes, specifically : a child's toy that consists of paper folded into four pyramid-shaped parts which are manipulated by the fingers to open and close with each part having a flap that can be unfolded to reveal an answer to one's question about the future : cootie catcher

Some of the most commonly made folk toys are made of paper: fortune tellers (also known as cootie catchers), paper airplanes, spitballs shot through straws …

—Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun

Your child may choose to decorate the fortune teller … with stickers or drawings, or to color the outside squares instead of writing the name of a color.

—Sally Worsham

fortune-telling

ˈfȯr-chən-ˌte-liŋ 

noun or adjective

Synonyms

• augur
• diviner
• forecaster
• foreseer
• foreteller
• futurist
• prognosticator
• prophesier
• prophet
• seer
• soothsayer
• visionary

Examples of fortune teller in a Sentence

the carnival's fortune-teller should have predicted that I'd pass right by her

Recent Examples on the Web

Of course, time may be running out for our fortune teller—and for every witch who had the misfortune of joining Agatha’s quest. —Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024

Explore the village and meet ghosts, witches, the Headless Horseman and a fortune teller along the way. —Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 9 Oct. 2024

Trick or treat through the village and meet ghosts, witches, the Headless Horseman, and a fortune teller. —Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 19 Sep. 2024

But Agatha All Along gives Hahn even more room to flex and vamp as Agatha’s hunt for a coven leads her to other witches like wellness guru Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), and security guard Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) — all of whom see her as a threat. —Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge, 19 Sep. 2024

Divinations will be provided by the fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone, hitting all the right camp notes). —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 18 Sep. 2024

More recently, courts have increasingly viewed bans on fortune tellers with skepticism on First Amendment grounds. —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 14 June 2024

One of those creepy mechanical fortune tellers found at the carnivals of yesteryear offers one of them the chance to return to life, setting up a showdown for the youths to make their case for living. —Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel, 22 July 2024

Fest-goers can visit with fortune tellers and henna artists, explore the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and check out the French Bulldog kissing booth. —Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 8 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

fortune-teller

noun

for·​tune-tell·​er

-ˌtel-ər

: a person who claims to foretell future events

fortune-telling

-ˌtel-iŋ

noun or adjective