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
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.
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
In support of Foucart it may be stated that among the inscriptions discovered at Eleusis there is one dedicating a statue to a hierophant by his wife.
From The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites by Wright, Dudley
Of this school Mr. Leigh Hunt, as we observed in a former number, aspires to be the hierophant....
From Life of John Keats by Rossetti, William Michael
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.
