Magic refers to the application of rituals or actions, especially those based on occult knowledge, to subdue or manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces in order to have some benefit from them. It commonly describes a specific ritual or procedure associated with such magic; a spell, the supernatural forces which are drawn on in such a ritual, and something producing successful and remarkable results, especially when not fully understood; an enchanting quality; exceptional skill, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Depending on context, it can also point to a conjuring trick or illusion performed to give the appearance of supernatural phenomena or powers, the art or practice of performing conjuring tricks and illusions, and complicated or esoteric code that is not expected to be generally understood, so the category can cover literal uses, related ideas, and more figurative extensions of the same core meaning. Taken together, these meanings present Magic as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language. Additional shades of meaning include having supernatural talents, properties or qualities attributed to magic, producing extraordinary results, as though through the use of magic; wonderful, amazing, pertaining to conjuring tricks or illusions performed for entertainment etc, great; excellent, and describing the number of nucleons in a particularly stable isotopic nucleus; 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126, and 184, which reinforce how the category can stretch across adjacent but still recognizable uses of the same term.
