nympholepsy

American  

[nim-fuh-lep-see] / ˈnɪm fəˌlɛp si /

noun

plural

nympholepsies

1. an ecstasy supposed by the ancients to be inspired by nymphs.

2. a frenzy of emotion, as for something unattainable.

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nympholepsy British  

/ ˈnɪmfəˌlɛpsɪ /

noun

1. a state of violent emotion, esp when associated with a desire for something one cannot have

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Other Word Forms

• nympholeptic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of nympholepsy

1765–75; formed on nympholept, on the model of epilepsy

Example Sentences

De Quincey has done so in prose, for instance, and Lord Byron talks of 'The nympholepsy of a fond despair,' though he never was accused of being overridden by his Greek.

From The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II by Kenyon, Frederic G. (Frederic George), Sir

Through solitude this passion may be exalted into a frenzy like a nympholepsy.

From The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. 1 by Japp, Alexander H. (Alexander Hay)

Witchcraft has seized upon you, nympholepsy has struck you.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845 by Various

The side a man would take, struck, as your Sandro was, by a nympholepsy, or, as Lorenzo was, by the rhymer's appetite for wherewithal to sonnetteer?

From Earthwork out of Tuscany Being Impressions and Translations of Maurice Hewlett by Hewlett, Maurice Henry

When the show was over he abandoned Miss Clampett on her door-step and went to his own boarding-house in a nympholepsy.

From We Can't Have Everything by Hughes, Rupert