Platonic
[pluh-ton-ik, pley-]
- of, relating to, or characteristic of Plato or his doctrines: the Platonic philosophy of ideal forms.
- pertaining to, involving, or characterized by Platonic love as a striving toward love of spiritual or ideal beauty.
- (usually lowercase) purely spiritual; free from sensual desire, especially in a relationship between two persons of the opposite sex.
- (usually lowercase) feeling or professing platonic love: He insisted that he was completely platonic in his admiration.
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Origin of Platonic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for platonically
Contemporary Examples
Best friends can often describe the moment when they platonically fell in love with each other.
Historical Examples
Voltaire and Rousseau were the fashion, and cultured society was platonically enamoured of the Rights of Man.
An Outline of Russian LiteratureMaurice Baring
And Augustine was not only part of all this, but in mind and temper was Platonically inclined.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II)Henry Osborn Taylor
He loved the old painters, but platonically; their works did not lead him astray.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4)Richard Muther
Tiny invited Don Roberto to open the dance with her, and that platonically enamoured gentleman consented with a grand flourish.
The CaliforniansGertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
For the rest, they sometimes envy the people its eternal ignorance, platonically of course.
The Non-religion of the Future: A Sociological StudyJean-Marie Guyau
Platonic
- of or relating to Plato or his teachings
- (often not capital) free from physical desirePlatonic love
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for platonically
Platonic
adj.
1530s, "of or pertaining to Greek philosopher Plato" (429 B.C.E.-c.347 B.C.E.), from Latin Platonicus, from Greek Platonikos. The name is Greek Platon, properly "broad-shouldered" (from platys "broad;" see plaice (n.)). His original name was Aristocles. The meaning "love free of sensual desire" (1630s), which the word usually carries nowadays, is a Renaissance notion; it is based on Plato's writings in "Symposium" about the kind of interest Socrates took in young men, which originally had no reference to women. Related: Platonically.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper