From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhocus-pocusho‧cus-po‧cus /ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs $ ˌhoʊkəs ˈpoʊ-/ noun [uncountable] UNTRUEa method or belief that you think is based on false ideas He thinks psychology is a load of hocus-pocus.
Examples from the Corpus
hocus-pocus• Lind's simple and logical process should have swept through medicine, brushing aside the accumulated hocus-pocus of centuries.• Corporate executives should recognize financial hocus-pocus by now.• In her poor barrio, La Paca impressed some and irked others with her hocus-pocus and well-connected friends.• Higgledy-piggledy merges, all too easily, into hocus-pocus.• In fact, Smith did not rest his argument on hocus-pocus.Origin hocus-pocus (1600-1700) hax pax max Deus adimax, a pretended Latin phrase used by people doing magic tricks 