afflatus

[ uh-fley-tuhs ]

/ əˈfleɪ təs /

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noun

inspiration; an impelling mental force acting from within.

divine communication of knowledge.

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Origin of afflatus

1655–65; <Latin afflātus a breathing on, equivalent to af-af- + flā- (stem of flāre to blow²) + -tus suffix of v. action

Words nearby afflatus

affirmed, affix, affixation, affixture, afflated, afflatus, afflict, afflicted, afflicting, affliction, afflictive

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use afflatus in a sentence

He had received from somewhere new afflatus for the story of Tom and Huck, and was working on it steadily.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete|Albert Bigelow Paine
It is simply a tenaqueous bag of wind, yet it has occasionally given an impulse to the divine afflatus.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 8, May 21, 1870|Various
Lie down on the dusty shingle above high water mark, take off my hat, and abandon myself to the Divine Afflatus.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 108, June 15th, 1895|Various
The afflatus of liberty sat upon the people as cloven tongues.
History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880. Vol 1|George W. Williams

So it seems that our poet drank in the divine afflatus, as it were, with his mother's milk.
Vondel's Lucifer|Joost van den Vondel

British Dictionary definitions for afflatus

afflatus

/ (əˈfleɪtəs) /

noun

an impulse of creative power or inspiration, esp in poetry, considered to be of divine origin (esp in the phrase divine afflatus)

Word Origin for afflatus

C17: Latin, from afflātus, from afflāre to breathe or blow on, from flāre to blow

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

afflatus

Origin of afflatus

Words nearby afflatus

Words related to afflatus

How to use afflatus in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for afflatus

Word Origin for afflatus