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Pythagorean

[pi-thag-uh-ree-uh n]
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adjective
  1. of or relating to Pythagoras, to his school, or to his doctrines.
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noun
  1. a follower of Pythagoras.
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Origin of Pythagorean

1540–50; < Latin Pȳthagorē(us) (< Greek Pȳthagóreios of Pythagoras) + -an
Related formspost-Py·thag·o·re·an, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pythagorean

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The old Pythagorean fancy that the soul 'is or has in it harmony' may in some degree be realized.

  • Is the Pythagorean image of the harmony, or that of the monad, the truer expression?

    Phaedo

    Plato

  • It is possible that the Pythagorean and Platonic doctrine may still have a future.

  • The Pythagorean contributions to geometry were even more remarkable.

  • We may also take it that he was familiar with all sorts of Orphic and Pythagorean sectaries.

British Dictionary definitions for pythagorean

Pythagorean

adjective
  1. of or relating to Pythagoras
  2. denoting the diatonic scale of eight notes arrived at by Pythagoras and based on a succession of fifths
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noun
  1. a follower of Pythagoras
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pythagorean

Pythagorean

adj.

1540s, from Latin Pythagoreus "of or pertaining to Pythagoras," Greek philosopher of Samos (6c. B.C.E.), whose teachings included transmigration of the soul and vegetarianism (these are some of the commonest early allusions in English). The Pythagorean theorem is the 47th of the first book of Euclid.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper