astrology

Word family

• astrologer
  nounB2
• astrological
  adjectiveC1
• astrologically
  adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These four words all involve looking at the sky or seeking hidden knowledge, but they differ sharply in claim and method. 'Astronomy' is a hard science: it measures stars, planets, and galaxies, and makes no claim about human lives. 'Astrology' is a belief system that uses similar sky data, but argues that the positions of the sun, moon, and planets shape personality and events on Earth. 'Horoscopy' is a narrower part of astrology — specifically the craft of drawing and reading birth charts for individuals. 'Divination' is the broadest of the four: any practice that tries to predict the future or read hidden meanings, including tarot, palm reading, and astrology itself. So you can say, 'My cousin studies astronomy at university, but on weekends she reads books on astrology and tries her hand at horoscopy and other forms of divination.'

Common collocations

Etymology

'Astrology' came into English in the late 1300s through Old French 'astrologie', from Latin 'astrologia', which itself was borrowed from Greek 'astrologia' — a compound of 'astron' (star) and '-logia' (study or speech about). For centuries, 'astrology' and 'astronomy' meant nearly the same thing and were used by the same scholars. The two meanings only split clearly in the 1600s, as modern science grew: 'astronomy' kept the measurable, observational side, while 'astrology' kept the older idea that stars carry messages about human life.