bacchant

[ bak-uhnt, buh-kant, -kahnt ]
See synonyms for bacchant on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural bac·chants, bac·chan·tes [buh-kan-teez, -kahn-]. /bəˈkæn tiz, -ˈkɑn-/.
  1. a priest, priestess, or votary of Bacchus; bacchanal.

  2. a drunken reveler.

adjective
  1. inclined to revelry.

Origin of bacchant

1
First recorded in 1690–1700, bacchant is from the Latin word bacchant- (stem of bacchāns, present participle of bacchārī to revel). See Bacchus, -ant

Other words from bacchant

  • bac·chan·tic, adjective

Words Nearby bacchant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bacchant in a sentence

  • He was in this, just as he was in everything else, a remnant of a past age; he had merely been transformed into a bacchant!

    The Title Market | Emily Post
  • But shall I be more like a bacchant holding the thyrsus in my right hand, or in this?

  • Scenes of bacchant excitement and of wildest abandonment may be witnessed here.

    The History of Prostitution | William W. Sanger

British Dictionary definitions for bacchant

bacchant

/ (ˈbækənt) /


nounplural bacchants or bacchantes (bəˈkæntɪz)
  1. a priest or votary of Bacchus

  2. a drunken reveller

Origin of bacchant

1
C17: from Latin bacchāns, from bacchārī to celebrate the bacchanalia

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012