Meaning & use
hex
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Meanings
nouncountable
A magic spell meant to bring bad luck or harm to someone.
Grammar: Often used with on: a hex on the village.
Patterns
- put a hex on someone
- lift a hex
The witch laid a hex on the farmer's crops.
Some fans joked that a hex kept the team from winning.
He swore the old house was under a hex.
verbtransitive
To cast a spell on someone to bring bad luck or harm.
Grammar: Takes an object: hex someone; also used jokingly in sport.
Patterns
- hex someone
- be hexed
The sorceress hexed the king's messenger.
I think someone hexed my laptop, because it crashes constantly.
The legend says the stone hexes anyone who moves it.
noununcountableinformalcomputing
Short for hexadecimal, a number system or color code based on sixteen, used in computing.
Grammar: Informal computing shorthand: a hex code.
Patterns
- hex code
- in hex
The designer typed the hex code for the shade of blue.
Memory addresses are often shown in hex.
Convert the number to hex before you enter it.
Word forms
| third person singular | hexes |
|---|---|
| past tense | hexed |
| past participle | hexed |
| -ing form | hexing |
| plural | hexes |
Common combinations
- put a hex on
- She put a hex on her rival's garden.
- lift a hex
- The shaman promised to lift the hex.
- under a hex
- The family believed they were under a hex.
- break the hex
- A win would finally break the hex on the team.
- hex code
- Enter the hex code for the color red.
Synonyms and how they differ
- curse
- Curse is the broader common word and can also mean swearing, whereas hex is specifically a witch's spell.
- jinx
- Jinx is lighter and often about bad luck brought by a remark, while a hex is deliberate magic.
- spell
- A spell can be good or bad, while a hex is always meant to harm.
- bewitch
- Bewitch usually means to enchant, often charmingly, rather than to bring harm.
Opposites
Word family
- hexed adjective
- under a spell of bad luck
- hexadecimal adjective
- relating to a base-sixteen number system
- hexagon noun
- a six-sided shape; the hex- prefix means six
- hexer noun
- a person who casts hexes
Commonly confused: hex or hacks? hex or hexagon?
hex vs hacks
Hacks are clever shortcuts or poor-quality writers, not spells.
hex vs hexagon
A hexagon is a six-sided shape; hex in the magic sense is unrelated to it.
Practice
In the story, the witch decided to ____ the greedy innkeeper.
Choose one answer.
To hex someone is to cast a harmful spell on them. The other verbs do not take that meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hex”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.