Stygian
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the river Styx or to Hades.
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dark or gloomy.
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infernal; hellish.
adjective
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of or relating to the river Styx
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literary
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dark, gloomy, or hellish
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completely inviolable, as a vow sworn by the river Styx
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of Stygian
1560–70; < Latin Stygi ( us ) < Greek Stýgios ( Styg-, stem of Stýx Styx + -ios adj. suffix) + -an
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.
He parked next to a dimly lit footbridge, which wobbled with our passage above a Stygian chasm.
From Washington Post • Apr. 22, 2022
The actors are shot in separate gloomy interiors, and from stationary positions, so as to appear in Stygian Zoom-like frames as if at a virtual meeting of hobbits.
From New York Times • May 7, 2021
The summer-stock theatricality of finding each other dissipated as the pair walked along the museum’s Stygian passageways.
From The New Yorker • May 8, 2017
Is the name a nod to the local passion for the Stygian side of the beer world?
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2016
In my pocket, the Stygian ice dog whistle started to grow colder, freezing against the side of my leg.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
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.
