Orphic

[awr-fik]

adjective

1. of or relating to Orpheus.

2. resembling the music attributed to Orpheus; entrancing.

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

   Orphic mysteries.

4. (often lowercase),  mystic; oracular.

Orphic

/ ˈɔːfɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to Orpheus or Orphism

2. (sometimes not capital) mystical or occult

Other Word Forms

• Orphically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of Orphic¹

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

Example Sentences

And it’s a clumsy one, attempting in the third act to weave aria pauses into a breakneck pace and an abrupt, Orphic turn.

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But the most important thing — an Orphic struggle if ever there was one — was not to look back.

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He knew he wanted to expand on his Orpheus-theme cantata, “The Orphic Moment.”

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It’s his own school that is in session — a one-way, Orphic descent into hell, with the violence manifest instead of latent, and his own pessimism front and center.

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This immersive, site-specific performance piece inspired by the current Getty Villa exhibition “Underworld: Imagining the Afterlife” is part nocturnal processional and part Orphic mystery rite — so comfy shoes and warm clothing are most definitely recommended.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• arcane 
• cryptic 
• distant 
• enigmatic 
• esoteric 
• humble 
• inaccessible 
• irrelevant 
• minor 
• mysterious 
• odd 
• rare 
• remote 
• secluded 
• secretive 
• undisclosed 
• undistinguished 
• unknown