orgy
Americannoun
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orgies
plural
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wild or drunken festivity or revelry, especially involving sex with multiple participants.
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any actions or proceedings marked by unbridled indulgence of passions.
an orgy of killing.
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orgies, (in ancient Greece) esoteric religious rituals, especially in the worship of Demeter or Dionysus, characterized in later times by wild dancing, singing, and drinking.
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Informal. a boisterous, rowdy party.
noun
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a wild gathering marked by promiscuous sexual activity, excessive drinking, etc
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an act of immoderate or frenzied indulgence
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(often plural) secret religious rites of Dionysus, Bacchus, etc, marked by drinking, dancing, and songs
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of orgy
First recorded in 1580–90; from Middle French orgie, from Latin orgia (neuter plural) “secret rites,” from Greek órgia, akin to érgon “work”; see also work
Explanation
If you have an orgy of presents or snacks or even new ideas, you have so many it's almost obscene. In this figurative use, orgy means an event where there is just too much of a good thing! The word orgy comes from the Greek orgia meaning "secret rites" which referred to the secret rites of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and love-making. An orgy is a gathering of a number of people that involves sex and drinking. You can use the word orgy to refer to any intense, excessive activity. Before school starts in the fall, most kids get to go on an orgy of shopping for clothes and school supplies.
Vocabulary lists containing orgy
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:
A muse for Allen Ginsberg, whose ecstatic litany of a poem “A Supermarket in California” captures the orgy of too many and just enough options, the numbness of excess.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
In fact it must always be the last resort, and then not be allowed to turn into an orgy of dominance over the foe.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2022
The festival of guesswork, the orgy of speculation.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2022
Such prognostications have tantalized many eager for the fabled liberation of a century ago — what Fitzgerald described as “the most expensive orgy in history.”
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2021
Beyond shame, I cradled my head in my arms and embarked on an orgy of self-pity.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Elsewhere, though, her lyrics reference everyone from Brad and Angelina to UFC fighter Conor McGregor, while joking about Pilates classes, fast food orgies, and "hot potato pain".
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2022
Was it only a decade ago that runway shows here were orgies of luxury glut?
From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2020
When the right people take the podium these three-hour telecasts become something more than fashion shows and orgies of self-congratulation which, make no mistake, they still are.
From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2020
The streets are orgies of blossoms, boughs of cherries and pears histrionically thick with flowers in basic white and show-off pink.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 23, 2019
These habits of former times appear to me now lavish, decadent almost; immoral, like the orgies of barbarian regimes.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
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.
