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Showing results for mystagogue. Search instead for mystagog.

mystagogue

American  
[mis-tuh-gawg, -gog] / ˈmɪs təˌgɔg, -ˌgɒg /

noun

  1. someone who instructs others before initiation into religious mysteries or before participation in the sacraments.

  2. a person whose teachings are said to be founded on mystical revelations.


mystagogue British  
/ ˈmɪstəˌɡɒɡ /

noun

  1. (in Mediterranean mystery religions) a person who instructs those who are preparing for initiation into the mysteries

"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 mystagogue

1540–50; < Latin mystagōgus < Greek mystagōgós, equivalent to mýst ( ēs ) ( see mystic) + ágōgos -agogue


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:

Dr. Alfred Rosenberg, who began life as a drawing teacher and is now chief mystagogue of National Socialism, spends much of his time in private sanatoria.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had none of the airs of mystagogue, but talked to men, as he did to beasts, in the speech which was habitual to them.

From Rest Harrow A Comedy of Resolution by Maurice Henry Hewlett

The boys were, therefore, placed in a row, and the initiator or mystagogue stooped over the first boy, and, muttering some words which I could not catch, he kneaded the lad's stomach with his hands.

From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Andrew Lang

Thus, with Piero for mystagogue, we enter an inner shrine of deep religious revelation.

From Renaissance in Italy Volume 3 The Fine Arts by John Addington Symonds

Terms of comparison fail to suggest themselves here and we are completely disconcerted by the fancy of the Babylonian mystagogue.

From Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms by Stephen Langdon

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