Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to Dionysus.
- adjective Of or devoted to the worship of Dionysus.
- adjective Of an ecstatic, orgiastic, or irrational nature; frenzied or undisciplined.
- adjective In the philosophy of Nietzsche, of or displaying creative-intuitive power as opposed to critical-rational power.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Of or pertaining to Dionysius the Areopagite, mentioned in Acts xvii. 34, who is said to have been made bishop of Athens in the year 50 by the Apostle Paul; or
- noun a pseudo-Dionysius who, about 360-450
a. d. , wrote several ecclesiastical works attributed by some to the Areopagite. - Same as
Dionysiac . - Pertaining to or characteristic of Dionysius the Elder or Dionysius the Younger, tyrants of Syracuse (about 405-343 B.C.), both notorious for cruelty, but especially the former.
- Pertaining to the abbot Dionysius Exiguus, who, in the sixth century, introduced the present vulgar reckoning of the years.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Relating to Dionysius, a monk of the 6th century.
- adjective a period of 532 years, depending on the cycle of the sun, or 28 years, and the cycle of the moon, or 19 years; -- sometimes called the
Greek paschal cycle , orVictorian period .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to Dionysius.
- adjective Alternative form of
dionysian .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of or relating to or worshipping Dionysus
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The Apollonian and Dionysian is a philosophical and literary concept based on parts of ancient Greek mythology.
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The Empire never ended because the Paraclete's exile is enforced not just by the Emperor but by his subjugated people, Gnostic or Paulian, who valorise the divorce of flesh and soul, the demonisation of the former in Dionysian Satan and the idealisation of the latter in Apollonian Christ.
THE HALLS OF PENTHEUS -- PART ONE Hal Duncan 2007
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As opposed the what Nietzsche called the "Apollonian" side of culture, that which seeks balance and structure, we were now moving into the realm of the "Dionysian" - the irrational, the delusional, the fanatical side of human nature.
Guarding America's Future Against the Heirs of Cromwell 2007
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The Era of the Incarnation, often called the Dionysian Era, was soon much used in Italy and, to some extent, a little later in
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy 1840-1916 1913
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The lunar calendar was called Dionysian, because Dionysius Exiguus, in the sixth century, recommended the introduction of the Alexandrian Easter cycle of 19 years and computed it for 95 years in advance.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy 1840-1916 1913
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The establishment of the birth of Christ as an event marking a time from which chronological data should be calculated, was first effected about 532 A.D. by Dionysius Exiguus; and as a basis for the reckoning of time this method has come to be known as the Dionysian system, and takes for its fundamental datum A.U.C. 753, that is to say
Jesus the Christ A Study of the Messiah and His Mission According to Holy Scriptures Both Ancient and Modern James Edward Talmage 1897
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It was as if the idea of Dionysian release were more attractive to the band than the thing itself.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed J.D. Considine 2011
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The author writes: "... attention enables you to have the kind of Dionysian experiences beautifully described by the old-fashioned term "rapt" — completely absorbed, engrossed, fascinated, perhaps even "carried away" — that underlies life's deepest pleasures."
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The author writes: "... attention enables you to have the kind of Dionysian experiences beautifully described by the old-fashioned term "rapt" — completely absorbed, engrossed, fascinated, perhaps even "carried away" — that underlies life's deepest pleasures."
Archive 2009-12-01 2009
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Christianity fares very poorly according those standards; Buddhism somewhat better; and his idiosyncratic, "Dionysian" faith fares very well -- as he says, it is "the highest of all possible faiths."
What is an Atheist? James F. McGrath 2008
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