hierophant
Americannoun
-
hierophants
plural
-
(in ancient Greece) an official expounder of rites of worship and sacrifice.
-
any interpreter of sacred mysteries or esoteric principles; mystagogue.
noun
-
(in ancient Greece) an official high priest of religious mysteries, esp those of Eleusis
-
a person who interprets and explains esoteric mysteries
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
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
He took upon himself to become its hierophant, and to infuse much that was peculiarly his own into it.
From Oscar Wilde by Leonard Cresswell Ingleby
In the following autumn, if of full age and approved by the hierophant, the neophyte could be initiated into the Greater Mysteries, into the second degree, that of Mysta.
From The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites by Dudley Wright
As Morton’s work spreads beyond cultural hierophants such as Björk to the pages of major news outlets, he is arguably becoming our most popular guide to the new epoch.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 15, 2017
It may appear strange that there should be in connection with so many of the old religions of the earth these arcana only to be approached by secret initiation at the hands of hierophants.
From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by William Rounseville Alger
It was said to have infected a large part of the population, including young members of noble families; for with the true missionary instinct, young people only were admitted by the hierophants.
From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler
To this latter belong diviners, jugglers, despots, demagogues, generals, hierophants of private mysteries, and sophists.
From Laws by Benjamin Jowett
The preacher might be excluded by our hierophants from their churches and meeting-houses, but would be attended in the fields by whole acres of hearers and thinkers.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
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.
