Arcadian
Americanadjective
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of Arcadia.
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(often lowercase) rural, rustic, or pastoral, especially suggesting simple, innocent contentment.
They shared the desire to live off the land and lead a life of Arcadian bliss.
noun
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a native of Arcadia.
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the dialect of ancient Greek spoken in Arcadia.
adjective
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of or relating to Arcadia or its inhabitants, esp the idealized Arcadia of pastoral poetry
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rustic or bucolic
a life of Arcadian simplicity
noun
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an inhabitant of Arcadia
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a person who leads or prefers a quiet simple rural life
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Arcadian
Vocabulary lists containing arcadian
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.
In John Knowles’s portrait of the boys’ Arcadian lives, World War II seems very far away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
Despite the reality, these emerging oil, railroad and publishing magnates saw an Arcadian paradise for the masses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2022
Nor did Vaughan Williams, a student socialist who remained left-leaning, always flee the present into an Arcadian past, despite the wistfulness of works like his Oboe Concerto.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2022
All this Arcadian plenty has tempted in the carnivores, who crept in quietly at first, testing the waters.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 24, 2020
Then they descended out of the America of factory work and tyrannical foremen into an Arcadian grotto of forgetfulness.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
