Sardanapalian
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of Sardanapalian
1865–70; Sardanapal ( us ) a legendary Assyrian king proverbial for his decadence (< Latin < Greek Sardanápal ( l ) os, perhaps ultimately < Akkadian Aššur-ban-apli Ashurbanipal) + -ian
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.
The cacique was taken prisoner and with him his entire Sardanapalian court.
From De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera by Francis Augustus MacNutt
They copy the luxuries, the inborn vices of the blue blood of Europe's crowned Sardanapalian autocrats.
From The Little Lady of Lagunitas A Franco-Californian Romance by Richard Savage
It was a rude disturber to his Sardanapalian train of thought, as a footman gliding into the room, placed a card in his hand that carried the name of “Swinton.”
From The Child Wife by Mayne Reid
The Sardanapalian motto, "Laugh, sing, dance, and be merry," seems to be universally adopted in this "City of the Plague."
From A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America by S. A. (Simon Ansley) Ferrall
The first movement has the martial pomp and hauteur and the Sardanapalian opulence and color that mark 294 a barbaric triumph.
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.
