ecstasy
Americannoun
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(often plural) a state of exalted delight, joy, etc; rapture
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intense emotion of any kind
an ecstasy of rage
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psychol overpowering emotion characterized by loss of self-control and sometimes a temporary loss of consciousness: often associated with orgasm, religious mysticism, and the use of certain drugs
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archaic a state of prophetic inspiration, esp of poetic rapture
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slang 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine; MDMA: a powerful drug that acts as a stimulant and can produce hallucinations
Synonym Usage
Ecstasy, rapture, transport, exaltation share a sense of being taken or moved out of one's self or one's normal state, and entering a state of intensified or heightened feeling. Ecstasy suggests an intensification of emotion so powerful as to produce a trancelike dissociation from all but the single overpowering feeling: an ecstasy of rage, grief, love. Rapture shares the power of ecstasy but most often refers to an elevated sensation of bliss or delight, either carnal or spiritual: the rapture of first love. Transport, somewhat less extreme than either ecstasy or rapture, implies a strength of feeling that results in expression of some kind: They jumped up and down in a transport of delight. Exaltation refers to a heady sense of personal well-being so powerful that one is lifted above normal emotional levels and above normal people: wild exaltation at having finally broken the record.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ecstasy
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English extasie, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin extasis, from Greek ékstasis “displacement, trance,” equivalent to ek- ec- + stásis stasis
Explanation
If you’ve ever been so happy that the rest of the world seemed to disappear, you’ve felt ecstasy — a feeling or state of intensely beautiful bliss. Ecstasy will make you want to write poetry. It happened to John Donne, whose poem “The Ecstasy” is about the feeling of the whole world vanishing when he looks into his lover’s eyes. Sometimes an artist sees a stunning landscape that causes such ecstasy that she has to turn it into a painting. Ecstasy can mean a feeling or it can also be a state of being, so you might say, “I’m in ecstasy because this pumpkin pie tastes so delicious!”
Vocabulary lists containing ecstasy
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 1
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Norse Mythology
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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.
See Examples For:
An ode to the ecstasy of Scrabble: Do you love hearing someone talk about something they’re really passionate about and know very well, in great intimate detail?
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
And the closing “Otherside” begins as a stately piano ballad and grows bar by bar until Ms. Orton reaches a state of ecstasy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Write some of this century’s most devastating songs about the ecstasy of getting together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
If it was Everton equalising there at the end, it would be pure ecstasy but the fact of City nicking a point from the jaws of defeat feels like a punch in the gut.
From BBC ● May 4, 2026
For a few moments, the Big Friendly Giant stood quite still, and a look of absolute ecstasy began to spread over his long wrinkly face.
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
The ecstasies of attraction are sublimated into their long conversations about Boethius and Hildegard von Bingen, or about the suddenly debatable issues of contraception and clerical celibacy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Gary Lineker, who will leave Match of the Day at the end of this season, BBC News understands, has been the steady hand who guided millions of fans through football's agonies and ecstasies.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2024
And Macelaru delivered the triumphant climb of the finale with finely managed intensity, never letting its ecstasies get out from under the players.
From Washington Post ● May 13, 2022
The young men seem to signify possible paths for Lennie: Toby offers solace and a safe link to Bailey; Joe means new ecstasies, a moving on from the torment.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2022
The pigs were in ecstasies over Napoleon’s cunning.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
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.
