psychedelic

American  

[sahy-ki-del-ik] / ˌsaɪ kɪˈdɛl ɪk /

Sometimes psychodelic

adjective

1. of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair.

   LSD users seek the psychedelic properties of the drug, including heightened sensory experiences.

2. of, relating to, or noting any of various drugs producing this state, such as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin.

   Researchers have long been interested in the potential therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs for humans.

3. characterized by images, sounds, or feelings resembling those experienced while in the altered state produced by psychedelic drugs: The psychedelic designs of music posters in the 60s were inspired by the Art Nouveau movement of the late 1800s.

   Their music had a dreamy psychedelic sound, with gentle guitars and hushed vocals.

   The psychedelic designs of music posters in the 60s were inspired by the Art Nouveau movement of the late 1800s.

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noun

1. a psychedelic drug.

   The clinic will start treating patients with ketamine, a psychedelic.

2. Rare. a person who uses such a substance.

psychedelic British  

/ ˌsaɪkɪˈdɛlɪk /

adjective

1. relating to or denoting new or altered perceptions or sensory experiences, as through the use of hallucinogenic drugs

2. denoting any of the drugs, esp LSD, that produce these effects

3. informal (of painting, fabric design, etc) having the vivid colours and complex patterns popularly associated with the visual effects of psychedelic states

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psychedelic Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for things that produce or are related to hallucinations, especially drugs such as LSD.

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Discover More

Psychedelic art, most popular during the late 1960s and early 1970s, combines patterns, objects, light, and sound to simulate hallucinatory experiences.

Other Word Forms

• prepsychedelic adjective
• psychedelically adverb

Etymology

Origin of psychedelic

First recorded in 1956; from psyche + Greek dêl(os) “visible, manifest, evident” + -ic

Example Sentences

Ward’s section is easily recognizable as his work in its mix of the uncanny and the offhand, both from “Adventure Time” and the psychedelic “Midnight Gospel.”

From Los Angeles Times

And everything there was on the page — the psychedelic rock guitar player, the DJ, the Memphis jookin dancers.

From Los Angeles Times

Across 10 tracks of lush, euphoria-driven rock ‘n’ roll, the band captured a notable tone shift in its sound that melded Southern rock, haunting folk, psychedelic soul laced with jam band energy.

From Los Angeles Times

Musical offerings ranged from traditional klezmer performances on violin and accordion evoking the Central Europe of old to more modern shows, including psychedelic Yiddish rock.

From Barron's

He sang and performed R&B and psychedelic rock for sororities on the Western Kentucky campus as well as on a tour of the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hallucinatory
• kaleidoscopic
• multicolored