dithyrambic

English

Etymology

dithyramb + -ic

Adjective

dithyrambic (comparative more dithyrambic, superlative most dithyrambic)

  1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling a dithyramb; especially, passionate, intoxicated with enthusiasm.
    • 1907, William James, Pragmatism:
      Signor Papini, the leader of italian pragmatism, grows fairly dithyrambic over the view that it opens, of man's divinely-creative functions.
    • 1985, Paul Binding, Harmonica's Bridegroom , →ISBN, page 131:
      ... thighs appear to be continuously alighting and pausing in mid-air, detached from their dithyrambic owners, like luminous birds on the wing.
    • 2000, Ian C. Johnston, The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche, page 104:
      The dithyrambic chorus is a chorus of transformed people, for whom their social past, their civic position, is entirely forgotten.
    • 2005, William Forbes Gray, Some Old Scots Judges: Anecdotes and Impressions , →ISBN, page 25:
      Nevertheless, if one has time and, still more, the patience to search whole acres of dithyrambic prose, he shall have his reward.

Noun

dithyrambic (plural dithyrambics)

  1. A dithyramb.
    • 1775, Anonymous, review of the West translation of Pindar's Olympic Odes, in The Critical Review, volume 40, page 451,
      As we have no remains of the dithyrambics of the ancients, we cannot exactly ascertain the measure.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.