bacchant

American  

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

noun

plural

bacchants, bacchantes

1. a priest, priestess, or votary of Bacchus; bacchanal.

2. a drunken reveler.

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adjective

1. inclined to revelry.

bacchant British  

/ ˈbækənt /

noun

1. a priest or votary of Bacchus

2. a drunken reveller

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Other Word Forms

• bacchantic adjective

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

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

From New York Times

In one section, two dancers turn and leap like ballet bacchantes.

From New York Times

But in 1979, when Jerome Robbins made his Verdi ballet “The Four Seasons” for City Ballet, he specifically and effectively imitated those very bacchantes and satyrs.

From New York Times

I have seen quiet Copenhageners, with Danish autumnal coolness in their veins, become political bacchantes at his playing.

From Project Gutenberg

Among them, with trunks caught as it were in the warm embraces of these troops of bacchantes, are thousands of silver-green olive-trees.

From Project Gutenberg