ophidian
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
-
snakelike
-
of, relating to, or belonging to the Ophidia, a suborder of reptiles that comprises the snakes
noun
Etymology
Origin of ophidian
First recorded in 1820–30; from New Latin Ophidi(a) (neuter plural) name of the suborder (from Greek ophídion (neuter singular), equivalent to óph(is) “serpent” + -idion diminutive suffix) + -an
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.
The jeweler’s earliest snake-inspired pieces tended toward abstraction, referencing ophidian sinuousness by way of a corrugated gold bracelet — based on the articulated flex of gas piping — that slithered up the wrist.
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2022
An obnoxious ophidian invaded a soccer pitch in Guatemala, delaying a game between Nueva Concepcion and Municipal.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2022
If the collections shown on the seventh day of Paris fashion week demonstrate anything for , keep your use of pelts, hides and skins to a minimum — particularly of those ophidian.
From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2011
Then an "odious ophidian," a python regius of "lethal length," "leprous luster" and "fetid folds," embraced and kissed him so strenuously that he died, shattering her "cordon of dreams."
From Time Magazine Archive
She strove to wrest her eye from his in vain, Held by that gaze ophidian like a bird, As in a trance she neither breathed nor stirred.
From Indian Legends of Minnesota by Severance, Cordenio A., Mrs.
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.
