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rhapsodist

[rap-suh-dist]
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noun
  1. a person who rhapsodizes.
  2. (in ancient Greece) a person who recited epic poetry, especially professionally.
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Origin of rhapsodist

1640–50; < Greek rhapsōid(ós) rhapsodist (rhaps-, variant stem of rháptein to stitch, + -ōid(ē) ode + -os noun suffix) + -ist
Related formsrhap·so·dis·tic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for rhapsodist

Historical Examples

  • This is not the joy of the fanatic or of the fakir or of the rhapsodist.

    Studies in the Epistle of James

    A. T. Robertson

  • The rhapsodist added the passages to suit the Dionysus feast, at which he was reciting.

  • And Emerson, though in a different way from Nietzsche's, was also a rhapsodist.

  • Liszt, that Hungarian rhapsodist in amours, was he not also an abbé?

  • Antar was the rhapsodist as well as a participant in these contests.

British Dictionary definitions for rhapsodist

rhapsodist

noun
  1. a person who speaks or writes rhapsodies
  2. a person who speaks with extravagant enthusiasm
  3. Also: rhapsode (ˈræpsəʊd) (in ancient Greece) a professional reciter of poetry, esp of Homer
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Derived Formsrhapsodistic, adjective
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 rhapsodist

n.

1650s, from French rhapsodiste, from rhapsode, from Greek rhapsodos (see rhapsody).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper