Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Greek Mythology Of or relating to Apollo or his cult.
  • adjective Characterized by clarity, harmony, and restraint.
  • adjective In the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, of or embodying the power of critical reason as opposed to the creative-intuitive.
  • adjective Serenely high-minded; noble.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Possessing the traits or attributes of Apollo.
  • Devised by or named after Apollonius of Perga, an ancient Greek geometer, celebrated for his original investigations in conic sections. He flourished under Ptolemy Philopator, 222–205 b. c.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or resembling, Apollo.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Greek mythology Of or relating to the Greek god Apollo.
  • adjective Of or relating to the Ancient Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga.
  • adjective Alternative form of apollonian.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In literary terms, Apollonian is the order, while Dionysian is the chaos.

    Apollonian and Dionysian Themes « Write Anything 2009

  • "Apollonian" Watercolor, Colored Pencil and Graphite on Paper 38 x 50 in.

    Ethan Murrow: Big Wall, Slow Pace. The New Work of Joe Biel. Ethan Murrow 2010

  • Each of these "Apollonian" instruments was historically referred to as a lyre and demanded attentive tuning: in the cabinet below the harp we find its tuning mechanism, whose tau-like shape evokes the spiritual temperament of the Franciscan Order. 309

    Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

  • "Apollonian" Watercolor, Colored Pencil and Graphite on Paper 38 x 50 in.

    Ethan Murrow: Big Wall, Slow Pace. The New Work of Joe Biel. 2010

  • Dionysus is the libertine Id, the horny kid, the spirit of tragedy and comedy, an aesthetics of passion which stands as antithesis to an "Apollonian" aesthetics of reason.

    An A-Z Of This Blog Hal Duncan 2007

  • An interesting thought I take out of this article is the concepts of "Apollonian" (pro-orthodox) and "Dionysian" (anti-orthodox) research.

    Bureaucracy stifling academic innovation 2009

  • An interesting thought I take out of this article is the concepts of "Apollonian" (pro-orthodox) and "Dionysian" (anti-orthodox) research.

    Archive 2009-07-01 2009

  • Dionysus is the libertine Id, the horny kid, the spirit of tragedy and comedy, an aesthetics of passion which stands as antithesis to an "Apollonian" aesthetics of reason.

    Archive 2007-12-01 Hal Duncan 2007

  • For Nietzsche, life is a struggle between man's elevated, "Apollonian" inclinations, and his passionate, "Dionysian" ones.

    What Music Has Lost James F. Penrose 2008

  • In the first versions of the libretto, by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, Roger succumbs to the prophet, who is revealed to be Dionysus; Szymanowski, however, was unsatisfied with that ending and has Roger finally abandon that cult to worship the sun, choosing a kind of Apollonian "third way" between the strict morality of the church and the license of the Dionysian revelers.

    The Only Thing That Flows Is the Fountain 2008

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