Aeolian
1 Americanadjective
noun
adjective
-
of or relating to this people or their dialect of Ancient Greek; Aeolic
-
of or relating to Aeolus
-
denoting or relating to an authentic mode represented by the ascending natural diatonic scale from A to A: the basis of the modern minor key See also Hypo-
Etymology
Origin of Aeolian1
First recorded in 1595–1605; Aeoli(us) pertaining to Aeolus + -an adjective suffix; see -an
Origin of Aeolian2
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin Aeoli(ī), (from Greek Aioleîs “the Aeolians,” with change of suffix) + -an
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:
In the summer, the influx of visitors is a challenge for the Aeolian Islands. which have only around 15,000 year-round residents.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
“We are all for goats running free, but let’s be clear: These aren’t Heidi’s kid goats,” said Carolina Barnao, a council member in neighboring Lipari, which administers its fellow Aeolian islands.
From New York Times ● May 27, 2024
At first we turned to nature: The Aeolian harps found across ancient civilizations required only the intervention of the wind to share their song.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 16, 2023
The largest, is a £1.98m contract with Aeolian Offshore Ltd, a company based in the Isle of Wight.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2022
Four vocalists were to be chosen to compete in the final round, but soon after Marian had returned from Aeolian Hall to Boghetti’s New York studio, the phone rang.
From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman
![]()
Finally, the fourth removes all anthropogenic sources for reference, thus only accounting for natural sources such as aeolian dust, marine and terrestrial biosphere emissions, and natural wildfires.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 2023
She’d designed as she would have designed for herself, a cathedral carved into a hillside, and aeolian pipes in it and grown into the trees outside.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2022
“It’s obviously a simplification, but I imagine I would be closer to the activist side of the spectrum,” says Taylor, whose less aeolian approach set him at odds with one French writer, Maylis de Kerangal.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 6, 2019
With sufficient sediment influx, aeolian systems can potentially form large dunes in dry or wet conditions.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
This observation is confirmed by others, and seems to afford a conspicuous habitat difference between the two, for deserti is typically an animal of the shifting aeolian sands.
From Life History of the Kangaroo Rat by Charles Taylor Vorhies
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.