totemic
Americanadjective
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of, being, or relating to a natural object or animate being, as an animal or bird, assumed as the emblem of a clan, family, or group.
Crocodiles are regarded as totemic animals in some parts of Africa, connected with a group's origin, ancestors, and place.
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of, being, or relating to anything regarded as a distinctive or venerated emblem by a group or individual.
I explained that the great horse trilogy, My Friend Flicka, was one of the most vivid and totemic elements of my childhood.
This has been a totemic issue for their party over the years, literally a signature policy during the last election.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of totemic
First recorded in 1840–50; totem ( def. ) + -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.
Totemic themes—power, the kind you find within and the kind you wield in relationships; physical pain, inflicted both directly and at a remove; and guilt, both personal and cultural—weave through the film.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 8, 2018
Totemic jazz musician John Coltrane took several, as did Neil Armstrong, although they were on the moon and were more of a leap.
From The Guardian • Dec. 6, 2010
Probably this eagle was remotely Totemic, and the Achaemenians were descendants of an ancient eagle tribe.
From Myths of Babylonia and Assyria by Mackenzie, Donald Alexander
Totemic clans are not exogamous in Central Australia, the Melanesian Banks Islands, among the Nandi of East Africa, and the Bakuana of South Africa.
From Introduction to the History of Religions Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV by Jastrow, Morris
By the establishment of the Totemic Bond, the clans were separated on the principle of near kindred, between which all marriage was inhibited.
From An Address, Delivered Before the Was-ah Ho-de-no-son-ne or New Confederacy of the Iroquois Also, Genundewah, a Poem by Hosmer, William H. C. (William Howe Cuyler)
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.
