Sapphic

[ saf-ik ]

adjective
  1. Sometimes sap·phic .

    • of, relating to, or being a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted to other women, used especially as an umbrella term for all women who are attracted to women.

  2. pertaining to Sappho or to certain meters or a form of strophe or stanza used by or named after her.

noun
  1. Greek Literature. a verse using certain meters or forms used by or named after Sappho.

  2. Slang.Sometimes sap·phic . a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted to other women.

Origin of Sapphic

1
First recorded in 1495–1505; from Latin sapphicus, from Greek sapphikós, equivalent to Sapph(ṓ) the name of a famous Greek poet (see Sappho) + -ikos adjective suffix; see -ic

usage note For Sapphic

What's the difference between Sapphic and lesbian? See gay.

Words Nearby Sapphic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Sapphic in a sentence

  • The Sapphic strophe of Francisco de la Torre has been not infrequently imitated.

  • Lesbian, or Sapphic love is, so Taxel claims, prevalent to an enormous degree among the fashionable ladies of Paris.

    Woman and Socialism | August Bebel
  • The Asclepiadeian stanza he employs much less frequently, the Sapphic only once, and that with indifferent success.

British Dictionary definitions for Sapphic

Sapphic

/ (ˈsæfɪk) /


adjective
  1. prosody denoting a metre associated with Sappho, consisting generally of a trochaic pentameter line with a dactyl in the third foot

  2. of or relating to Sappho or her poetry

  1. lesbian

noun
  1. prosody a verse, line, or stanza written in the Sapphic form

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012