sibylline

English
Michelangelo’s rendering of the Cumaean Sibyl

Alternative forms

Etymology

Latin sibyllinus[1], Sibillinus[2], from Sibylla.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈsɪbɪlaɪn/ (UK)

Adjective

sibylline (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to a sibyl or female oracle, especially the Cumaean Sibyl and the Sibylline Books. [from late 16th c.]
    Synonym: sibyllic
    • 1922, Baroness Orczy, “Mice and Men”, in The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel:
      But directly she had closed the door behind her, Mother Théot's manner underwent a chance. Here the broad light of day appeared to divest her of all her sybilline attributes. She became just an ugly old woman, wrinkled and hook-nosed, dressed in shabby draperies that were grey with age and dirt, and with claw-like hands that looked like the talons of a bird of prey.
  2. (by extension) Having oracle-like predicting powers, clairvoyant.
  3. Mysterious.
    Synonym: enigmatic

Translations

References
  1. “sibylline” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
  2. “sibylline” (US) / “sibylline” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

French
Michelangelo’s rendering of the Cumaean Sibyl

Adjective

sibylline

  1. feminine singular of sibyllin
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