psychedelic
Americanadjective
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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.
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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.
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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.
noun
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a psychedelic drug.
The clinic will start treating patients with ketamine, a psychedelic.
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Rare. a person who uses such a substance.
adjective
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relating to or denoting new or altered perceptions or sensory experiences, as through the use of hallucinogenic drugs
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denoting any of the drugs, esp LSD, that produce these effects
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informal (of painting, fabric design, etc) having the vivid colours and complex patterns popularly associated with the visual effects of psychedelic states
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 2021, the instrumental psychedelic band from San Diego recorded a stunning live album and video called “Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 1.”
From Los Angeles Times
His sound expanded with 2014’s “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music,” which incorporated psychedelic arrangements into songs that mused on philosophy and the nature of the universe.
Mr. Pollan points to a 2022 study that found that “a single psychedelic experience dramatically increases the likelihood that a person will attribute consciousness to other entities, both living and nonliving.”
The group, born out of the Bay Area psychedelic rock scene, was soon signed by Vanguard Records and in 1967 released its debut album “Electric Music for the Mind and Body.”
From Los Angeles Times
Hartman is a journalist living in Los Angeles and the publisher of DoubleBlind, a magazine and media company at the forefront of the psychedelic movement.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
