Definitions

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

  • adjective Possessed, produced, or influenced by a demon.
  • adjective Of, resembling, or suggestive of a devil; fiendish.
  • noun One who is or seems to be possessed by a demon.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a demon or spirit.
  • Produced by demons; influenced by demons.
  • Of the character of a demon; acting as if possessed by demons; wild; frantic; extremely wicked or cruel.
  • noun One who is supposed to be possessed by a demon; one whose volition and other mental faculties seem to be overpowered. restrained, or disturbed in their regular operation by an evil spirit; specifically, a lunatic.
  • noun [capitalized] One of a section of the Anabaptists who maintained that, the devils would ultimately be saved.

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

  • noun A human being possessed by a demon or evil spirit; one whose faculties are directly controlled by a demon.
  • noun (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect of Anabaptists who maintain that the demons or devils will finally be saved.
  • adjective Pertaining to, or characteristic of, a demon or evil spirit; devilish
  • adjective Influenced or produced by a demon or evil spirit.
  • adjective resembling or suggesting possession by a demon.
  • adjective in a murderous frenzy as if possessed by a demon.

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

  • adjective possessed or controlled by a demon.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to demons; demonic.
  • noun One who is possessed or controlled by a demon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective frenzied as if possessed by a demon
  • noun someone who acts as if possessed by a demon

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English demoniak, from Late Latin daemoniacus, from Greek *daimoniakos, from daimonios, of a spirit, from daimōn, divine power; see demon.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin daemoniacus.

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Examples

  • He has deemed himself a failure and largely abandoned literature, but Jed's portrait of him captures his bygone intensity—"he appears to be in a trance, possessed by a fury that some have not hesitated to describe as demoniac."

    Reflections on Self-Regard Sam Sacks 2012

  • A more perplexing difficulty arises from his handling of the cases of so-called demoniac possession.

    The Life of Jesus of Nazareth Rush Rhees

  • There is in human nature what Goethe used to call a demoniac element, defying all law, and all induction; and we can, I fear, from that one cause, as easily calculate the progress of the human race, as we can calculate that of the vines upon the slopes of AEtna, with the lava ready to boil up and overwhelm them at any and every moment.

    Roman and the Teuton Charles Kingsley 1847

  • Pseudo-Jerome: Here again the demoniac is the people of the Gentiles, in a most hopeless case, bound neither by the law of nature, nor of God, nor by human fear.

    Catena Aurea - Gospel of Mark 1225?-1274 1842

  • It seemed to him for a moment that Osmond had a kind of demoniac imagination; it was impossible that without malice he should have selected so unusual a topic.

    Chapter XLVIII 1917

  • 'demoniac' people, in the passus beginning 'they declare the world to be without a Truth, without a resting-place, without a Ruler,' and ending

    The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja — Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48 George Thibaut 1881

  • 'demoniac' manner of contemporary tragedians, I take leave to think that no player has been more worthy to wear the _canons_ of M.scarille or the gown of Vadius than M. Coquelin of the Comédie Francaise.

    Letters to Dead Authors Andrew Lang 1878

  • For the more demoniac drivers, who offer taxi services, the new highway code has triggered great pain, since most run without legal documentation and without normal security measures, such as excess passengers.

    Global Voices in English » Angola: New highway code in action 2009

  • Laughter without air and sunshine becomes morbid, decadent, demoniac.

    The House Beautiful 2010

  • Yes | No | Report from demoniac wrote 1 year 1 week ago

    If You could have just one rifle... 2009

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