charisma
/kəˈrɪzmə
/noun
1 [mass noun] Compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others: he has tremendous charisma and stage presence...
- Your personal charm and charisma take you through difficult situations smoothly.
- I think he has charisma, but it's not the sort of charisma that attracts the ordinary voter.
- I'm fascinated by this character trait known as charm or charisma.
Synonyms
charm, presence, aura, personality, force of personality, strength of character, individuality;
magnetism, animal magnetism, drawing power, attractiveness, appeal, allure, pull;
magic, spell, mystique, glamour
2 (plural charismata /kəˈrɪzmətə/) A divinely conferred power or talent.We have to learn to see such charismata when they appear; the charismatic phenomenon is essentially new and always surprising....
- In describing various services in the church as charismata, Paul's aim was to affirm theologically that these agents were all endowed with the grace of God and thus had divine as well as social legitimation.
- All the Pauline references to charismata, Campbell insists, are to be taken only in the latter sense.
Origin
Mid 17th century (in sense 2): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek kharisma, from kharis 'favour, grace'.
The first recorded sense of charisma was ‘a divinely conferred talent’. The word came via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek kharisma, from kharis ‘favour, grace’. The Charismatic religious movement has, since the 1930s, gone back to the original sense of the word.