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Dionysiac

American  
[dahy-uh-nis-ee-ak, -nahy-see-] / ˌdaɪ əˈnɪs iˌæk, -ˈnaɪ si- /

adjective

  1. of or relating to the Dionysia or to Dionysus; Bacchic.

  2. Dionysian.


Dionysiac British  
/ ˌdaɪəˈnɪzɪˌæk /

adjective

  1. of or relating to Dionysus or his worship

  2. a less common word for Dionysian

"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


Etymology

Origin of Dionysiac

1820–30; < Latin Dionȳsiacus < Greek Dionȳsiakós, equivalent to Diónȳs ( os ) Dionysus + -i- derivative stem vowel + -akos -ac


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:

But for those who love McLean’s music, it’s essential listening; it captures his full, overtone-rich in-concert sound as well as his explosive solos, which, at times, reach a Dionysiac frenzy.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 27, 2018

A marble head of a deity wearing a Dionysiac fillet, from the first century A.D.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 22, 2018

She has surely become the most Dionysiac artist in an Apollonian genre, very probably the most talked-of ballerina in America and quite possibly the most argued-about ballerina anywhere.

From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2015

Yet these Dionysiac suggestions are kept in bizarrely firm Apollonian check by Mr. Morris’s virtually plotless choreography.

From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2013

“And that, to me, is the terrible seduction of Dionysiac ritual. Hard for us to imagine. That fire of pure being.”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

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