nepenthe
Americannoun
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a drug or drink, or the plant yielding it, mentioned by ancient writers as having the power to bring forgetfulness of sorrow or trouble.
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anything inducing a pleasurable sensation of forgetfulness, especially of sorrow or trouble.
noun
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a drug, or the plant providing it, that ancient writers referred to as a means of forgetting grief or trouble
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anything that produces sleep, forgetfulness, or pleasurable dreaminess
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of nepenthe
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin nēpenthes, from Greek nēpenthés “herb for soothing,” noun use of neuter of nēpenthḗs “banishing pain,” equivalent to nē- “un-” (negative prefix) + pénth(os) “grief, pain, sorrow” + -ēs adjective suffix
Explanation
Nepenthe is a magical potion or plant from ancient mythology said to have the power to make people forget their sorrows. Today, the word is often used metaphorically for anything that provides relief or escape from grief or troubles. The word nepenthe comes from the Greek roots nē-, meaning "not," and penthos, meaning "grief." It appears in Homer's Odyssey, where Helen of Troy gives the potion to her guests so they will forget their grief over lost soldiers in the Trojan War. Edgar Allan Poe referred to it in his famous poem The Raven, in the line "Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!" Over time, the word has come to describe anything — e.g., music, writing, nature, or sleep — that helps relieve sorrow or emotional pain.
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.
For thrill-loving tourists, for the great, near-great and notorious, Catalina had been nepenthe.
From Time Magazine Archive
And the search is more intense than ever for the Unspoiled Spot, where Those Who Know can get away from it all for a quiet taste of nepenthe with good food and a clean bed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Those lyrics, which act upon the mind like nepenthe, are also by Segal, a classics scholar who is driving without a poetic license.
From Time Magazine Archive
The other, beneath its bitter lash, becomes a human dynamo, plunging into the nepenthe of toil.
From The Lash by Olin L. Lyman
Slow time a sad nepenthe brought, Numb poignance with no sigh, When body, dim with sorrow, sought Day with a dead man's eye.—
From Ioläus The man that was a ghost by James Allan Mackereth
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.
