metempsychosis
Americannoun
-
metempsychoses
plural
noun
-
the migration of a soul from one body to another
-
the entering of a soul after death upon a new cycle of existence in a new body either of human or animal form
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of metempsychosis
1580–90; < Late Latin < Greek, equivalent to metempsȳchō-, variant stem of metempsȳchoûsthai to pass from one body into another ( see met-, em- 2, psycho-) + -sis -sis
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:
After Darth Vader cut down Obi-Wan Kenobi in a lightsaber duel, the latter returned via metempsychosis as a Force Ghost.
From Fox News ● Mar. 23, 2019
As to how Maf came by his feeling for history or his fancy prose style, not to mention an impressive knowledge of the works of numerous philosophers, especially Plutarch, the answer, it seems, is metempsychosis.
From The Guardian ● May 7, 2010
Japanese approved, last week, certain pious rites ordered and paid for at Kyoto by one Yozo Fuyubayashi, a rich seller of flypaper, a gentleman, and a devout believer in metempsychosis or transmigration of souls.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Moreover, metempsychosis in the Greek sense was never an Egyptian doctrine.
From The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia by A. H. (Archibald Henry) Sayce
At this moment the consolation leaped up within my hero like a fountain, that he was to begin on Thursday his metempsychosis through nature,–his journey.
From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. I. A Biography by Jean Paul
All the metempsychoses depend on the imagination of the family Gurus, who receive for their kind offices from one hundred to one hundred and fifty rupees a year.
From From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan by H. P. (Helena Petrovna) Blavatsky
Descriptions were also given, answering to the growing sense of personal responsibility, of the abodes of Hades and of the fate of souls there, and of the metempsychoses through which the soul must pass.
From History of Religion A Sketch of Primitive Religious Beliefs and Practices, and of the Origin and Character of the Great Systems by Allan Menzies
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.