séance

• seance

From French séance (“sitting, session”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪˌɑns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

séance (plural séances)

1. A ceremony where people try to communicate with the spirits of dead people, usually led by a medium.
   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 231:

     [B]ut only too often séances degenerate into pure sorcery or necromancy, attracting all kinds of undeveloped and earth-bound entities.

2. (dated) The sitting of an assembly to discuss a matter.

séance (third-person singular simple present séances, present participle séancing, simple past and past participle séanced)

1. To hold a séance (communication with spirits).

• Neaces, Seneca, acenes, censae, encase, scenae, scæne

From séant +‎ -ance, possibly corresponding to Latin sedentia.

• IPA^(key): /se.ɑ̃s/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Homophone: séances
• Hyphenation: sé‧ance
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

séance f (plural séances)

1. session

• préséance
• séance tenante

• → English: séance
• → German: Séance
• → Hungarian: szeánsz
• → Norwegian Bokmål: seanse
• → Polish: seans
• → Russian: сеанс (seans)
• → Turkish: seans

• “séance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.