daemon
Americannoun
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Classical Mythology.
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a god.
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a subordinate deity, as the genius of a place or a person's attendant spirit.
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a demon.
noun
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a demigod
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the guardian spirit of a place or person
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a variant spelling of demon
Other Word Forms
- daemonic adjective
- daemonistic adjective
Etymology
Origin of daemon
< Latin daemōn a spirit, an evil spirit < Greek daímōn a deity, fate, fortune; compare daíesthai to distribute
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.
Whether sinful passions or unconscious destructive urges, distracting attachments or visceral impulses, desire is the daemon that makes us act, often against our own interests and those of others.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
Lyra lives in a universe parallel to our own, where people have a daemon - a companion spirit in animal form.
From BBC • Oct. 21, 2025
Lyra is no longer a child but a troubled young adult who finds herself estranged from her daemon Pantalaimon — effectively at war with herself.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 27, 2019
By The Amber Spyglass, the final book in the trilogy, what I wanted was not the alethiometer, nor even a daemon, but the love.
From The Guardian • Nov. 1, 2019
As soon as she said that, Mrs. Coulter’s daemon snapped his head up to look at her, and all the golden fur on his little body stood up, bristling, as if it were charged itself.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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.
