daemon
Americannoun
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Classical Mythology.
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a god.
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a subordinate deity, as the genius of a place or a person's attendant spirit.
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a demon.
noun
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a demigod
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the guardian spirit of a place or person
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a variant spelling of demon
Other Word Forms
- daemonic adjective
- daemonistic adjective
Etymology
Origin of daemon
< Latin daemōn a spirit, an evil spirit < Greek daímōn a deity, fate, fortune; compare daíesthai to distribute
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.
Whether sinful passions or unconscious destructive urges, distracting attachments or visceral impulses, desire is the daemon that makes us act, often against our own interests and those of others.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
Dan Kois: What was that time in your life like, when, as it were, your daemon started to settle?
From Slate • Dec. 29, 2020
The BBC, by contrast, is seeing the epic drama through from the opening glass of tokay to the concluding moment, when Lyra's daemon mutates into a pine marten.
From BBC • Nov. 9, 2020
Well, my son responded to the sights, sounds, smells, lights, queues and endless wooden-arts-and-crafts stalls as if he were my daemon.
From The Guardian • Dec. 24, 2019
His wolverine daemon leaped onto the woodstack beside the door, scattering snow.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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.
