nympholepsy
Americannoun
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nympholepsies
plural
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an ecstasy supposed by the ancients to be inspired by nymphs.
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a frenzy of emotion, as for something unattainable.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of nympholepsy
1765–75; formed on nympholept, on the model of epilepsy
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.
Witchcraft has seized upon you, nympholepsy has struck you.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845 by Various
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 Sir Frederic G. (Frederic George) Kenyon
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 Rupert Hughes
The beautiful name of their malady was nympholepsy.
From Memoirs of My Dead Life by George (George Augustus) Moore
But he was busy with his new story, in the throes of nympholepsy, seeing visions, hearing voices.
From We Can't Have Everything by Rupert Hughes
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