hieratic
Americanadjective
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Also hieratical. of or relating to priests or the priesthood; sacerdotal; priestly.
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noting or pertaining to a form of ancient Egyptian writing consisting of abridged forms of hieroglyphics, used by the priests in their records.
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noting or pertaining to certain styles in art in which the representations or methods are fixed by or as if by religious tradition.
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highly restrained or severe in emotional import.
Some of the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved.
noun
adjective
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of or relating to priests
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of or relating to a cursive form of hieroglyphics used by priests in ancient Egypt
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of or relating to styles in art that adhere to certain fixed types or methods, as in ancient Egypt
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hieratic
1650–60; < Latin hierāticus < Greek hierātikós pertaining to the priesthood, priestly, equivalent to hierā-, variant stem of hierâsthai to perform priestly functions (verbal derivative of hierós sacred; see hiero-) + -ikos -ic, with -t- by analogy with derivatives from agent nouns in -tēs ( cf. athlete, athletic)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Egyptians also developed a simplified version of this hieroglyphic script known as hieratic, which they often employed for more mundane purposes such as recordkeeping and issuing receipts in commercial transactions.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
He revels in their flamboyant playfulness and its earnest purpose, in their fusion of slapstick antics with hieratic exaltation.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 13, 2017
This half boast, half ambition puts Google into a long line of hieratic readers of the sky, and has a nice a touch of Kabbalah as well.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2015
Gravity imaginatively resurrected the space shuttle so that it could be spectacularly destroyed in 3-D, and Interstellar sent Matthew McConaughey’s hieratic drawl out from the Louisiana bayou and into the stars.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2015
Finally, from the hieratic writing arose a third and more abbreviated kind, the demotic, which represented the language of ordinary intercourse and the national dialect.
From The History of Antiquity, Vol. I (of VI) by Max Duncker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
