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Synonyms

bacchant

American  
[bak-uhnt, buh-kant, -kahnt] / ˈbæk ənt, bəˈkænt, -ˈkɑnt /

noun

  • bacchants,
    plural
  • bacchantes
    plural
  1. a priest, priestess, or votary of Bacchus; bacchanal.

  2. a drunken reveler.


adjective

  1. inclined to revelry.

bacchant British  
/ ˈbækənt /

noun

  1. a priest or votary of Bacchus

  2. a drunken reveller

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Etymology

Origin of bacchant

First recorded in 1690–1700, bacchant is from the Latin word bacchant- (stem of bacchāns, present participle of bacchārī to revel). See Bacchus, -ant

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:

Everyone who has ever seen a Jack Lemmon movie will instantly surmise that the model account exec is a three-button bacchant, and so he is.

From Time Magazine Archive

They also show off by picking up guitars and microphones and dancing like prairie bacchantes.

From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2019

The tension is not in the contest but in the axiomatic revelation uttered by the chorus of the bacchantes: "Knowledge is not wisdom."

From Time Magazine Archive

It was nymphs, nymphs, dryads, bacchantes, running down from the heights into the plain….

From A Reckless Character And Other Stories by Isabel Florence Hapgood

The bacchantes screamed in heaven-piercing voices, and began to hide in the chariots.

From Quo Vadis: a narrative of the time of Nero by Jeremiah Curtin

Between acanthus leaves and flowers In the white marble gaily went Loves and bacchantes all the hours, Dancing about the monument.

From Enamels and Cameos and other Poems by Agnes Lee

In their other religious festivals also, choruses of fauns and bacchants chaunted songs and held up individuals to public ridicule.

From The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor Vol I, No. 2, February 1810 by S. C. (Stephen Cullen) Carpenter

The influence, direct and indirect, of these German philosophers reached far beyond the narrow circle of the bacchants or even the wandbearers of idealism.

From The Idea of Progress An inguiry into its origin and growth by J. B. (John Bagnell) Bury

He painted all sorts of subjects, but was seen at his best in mythological scenes with groups of drunken satyrs and bacchants, surrounded by a close-placed landscape.

From A Text-Book of the History of Painting by John Charles Van Dyke

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