hierophant
Americannoun
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(in ancient Greece) an official expounder of rites of worship and sacrifice.
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any interpreter of sacred mysteries or esoteric principles; mystagogue.
noun
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(in ancient Greece) an official high priest of religious mysteries, esp those of Eleusis
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a person who interprets and explains esoteric mysteries
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hierophant
1670–80; < Late Latin hierophanta < Greek hierophántēs, equivalent to hiero- hiero- + -phántēs, derivative of phaínein to show, make known
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.
But a successful heist leads to catastrophic complications when Sancia receives warning that an ancient, impossibly powerful scriver is en route to Tevanne — a hierophant, one of the original creators of their magic technology.
From New York Times • May 26, 2020
There were, of course, great differences between Rubens and his hierophant Watteau.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was essentially a legislative man, not so much an ideologue as a hierophant of parliamentary procedure.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Celeas, where they were celebrated every fourth year, a hierophant, who was not bound by the law of celibacy, as at Eleusis, was elected by the people for each celebration.
From The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites by Wright, Dudley
Having thoroughly purified him, the hierophant now discloses to the initiated a region all over illuminated and shining with a divine splendour.
From The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites by Wright, Dudley
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.
