Orphic

[ awr-fik ]
See synonyms for Orphic on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. of or relating to Orpheus.

  2. resembling the music attributed to Orpheus; entrancing.

  1. pertaining to a religious or philosophical school maintaining a form of the cult of Dionysus, or Bacchus, ascribed to Orpheus as founder: Orphic mysteries.

  2. (often lowercase) mystic; oracular.

Origin of Orphic

1
1670–80; <Greek Orphikós (cognate with Latin Orphicus), equivalent to Orph(eús) Orpheus + -ikos-ic

Other words from Orphic

  • Or·phi·cal·ly, adverb

Words Nearby Orphic

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

How to use Orphic in a sentence

  • It will now be profitable if we examine the story of Sanchoniathon and the statements of the Orphic Hymns.

  • We may suppose that the Orphic poems were collected, edited and probably interpolated, in this dark hour of Greece.

  • On the whole, however, our Orphic authorities can never be quoted with much satisfaction.

  • The authors of the Orphic cosmogony appear to have begun with some remarks on Time ((Greek text omitted)).

  • And the whole account is symbolical, we think, consciously symbolical; it has an Orphic tinge, hinting of mystic rites.

    Homer's Odyssey | Denton J. Snider

British Dictionary definitions for Orphic

Orphic

/ (ˈɔːfɪk) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to Orpheus or Orphism

  2. (sometimes not capital) mystical or occult

Derived forms of Orphic

  • Orphically, adverb

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