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

American guitarist and songwriter Bob Weir, a founding member of the revolutionary, psychedelic jam band Grateful Dead, has died aged 78, his family announced Saturday.

From Barron's

Bob Weir, a co-founder of the Grateful Dead, an iconic American band thanks to its sunny, often-improvised meld of folk, blues, country and psychedelic rock, has died at age 78.

From The Wall Street Journal

Weir, a cornerstone of the California psychedelic rock group and many of its offshoots, passed away after a battle with cancer and lung issues, according to a post on his Instagram.

From BBC

Bob Weir, a founding member of psychedelic jam band the Grateful Dead, has died, his family announced in a statement Saturday.

From Barron's

However, an analysis, published in the British Medical Journal in November 2024 by a PhD student Cédric Lemarchand and colleagues, questioned how easy it was to determine the precise effect of psychedelic drugs.

From BBC

Related Words

• hallucinatory
• kaleidoscopic
• multicolored