Orphic
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to Orpheus or Orphism
-
(sometimes not capital) mystical or occult
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Orphic
1670–80; < Greek Orphikós (cognate with Latin Orphicus ), equivalent to Orph ( eús ) Orpheus + -ikos -ic
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.
But the most important thing — an Orphic struggle if ever there was one — was not to look back.
From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2021
He knew he wanted to expand on his Orpheus-theme cantata, “The Orphic Moment.”
From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2020
Aucoin first explored the subject in a 2014 piece for countertenor, violin and orchestra called “The Orphic Moment.”
From Seattle Times • Jan. 29, 2020
But some novelists have turned to music not to envy its Orphic power but to prod a bit dubiously at the very idea of attention as we’ve come to conceive of it.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 27, 2015
In the first chapter of the "History of Greek Poetry," Schlegel speaks of the religious rites and mysteries of the primitive Greeks, and of the Orphic poetry to which they gave rise.
From The Philosophy of History, Vol. 1 of 2 by Schlegel, Friedrich
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.
