Meaning & use
witches' brew soup
Last updated
Meanings
phrasecountable or uncountablehumorous
A playful name for a soup or drink made to look like something a witch has cooked, often green and full of odd floating pieces.
Grammar: Countable when naming one dish (a witches' brew soup) and uncountable when talking about the food in general.
Patterns
- make witches' brew soup
- a bowl of witches' brew soup
- serve witches' brew soup at a party
For the Halloween party, we made a witches' brew soup with green food coloring.
The children giggled at the witches' brew soup with noodles that looked like worms.
She served witches' brew soup in a big black pot.
phrasesingularfigurativehumorous
Any mixture that looks messy, strange, or slightly disgusting, compared humorously to a witch's cooking.
Grammar: Often used figuratively after 'like': it looked like witches' brew.
Patterns
- look like witches' brew
- turn into witches' brew
After the kids finished cooking, the kitchen looked like witches' brew.
The pond was full of green slime, a real witches' brew soup.
Word forms
| plural | witches' brew soups |
|---|
Common combinations
- make witches' brew soup
- We make witches' brew soup every year for Halloween.
- a pot of witches' brew soup
- A pot of witches' brew soup bubbled on the stove.
- green witches' brew soup
- The green witches' brew soup glowed under the party lights.
- serve witches' brew soup
- They served witches' brew soup in small plastic cauldrons.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Halloween soup
- Neutral and simply says when the soup is eaten; witches' brew soup emphasizes the spooky, magical look.
- punch
- A drink rather than a soup, but witches' brew is also used for party drinks.
Word family
Commonly confused: witches' brew soup or witches brew?
witches' brew soup vs witches brew
Without the apostrophe, the phrase does not clearly show possession; the standard spelling is witches' brew, with the apostrophe after the s.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The standard phrase is 'witches' brew soup', with the apostrophe after the plural witches. Option 1 puts the apostrophe in the singular, option 2 drops the apostrophe, and option 3 drops both the apostrophe and the plural s.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “witches' brew soup”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.