Definitions

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

  • adjective Of, relating to, or marked by pleasure.
  • adjective Of or relating to hedonism or hedonists.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to sexual excitement.
  • Pertaining to or consisting in pleasure.
  • Of the nature of hedonism; regarding one's own enjoyment as the chief good.

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

  • adjective Pertaining to pleasure.
  • adjective Of or relating to Hedonism or the Hedonic sect.
  • adjective a sect that placed the highest good in the gratification of the senses, -- called also Cyrenaic sect, (which see), and School of Aristippus.

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

  • adjective Of or relating to pleasure
  • adjective Pursuing pleasure in a devoted manner
  • adjective Of or relating to the hedonists or to hedonism

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

  • adjective devoted to pleasure

Etymologies

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

[Greek hēdonikos, from hēdonē, pleasure; see swād- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἡδονή (hēdonē, "pleasure") + -ic.

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Examples

  • To find out, he and his colleagues asked a group of 65 undergraduates to complete an online survey each day for three weeks that assessed how times they participated in hedonic, or pleasure-seeking behaviours, versus meaningful activities, such as helping others, listening to friends’ problems and/or pursuing one’s life goals.

    Study: Doing Good Makes you Feel Good | Impact Lab 2007

  • Ord refers to the "hedonic treadmill" whereby people expend more and more resources to maintain the same level of satisfaction, and to evidence that people get more happiness from spending money on other people than buying things for themselves.

    The Saturday interview: Toby Ord and Bernadette Young on the joy of giving 2011

  • The pleasure that comes with, say, a good meal, an entertaining movie or an important win for one's sports team—a feeling called "hedonic well-being"—tends to be short-term and fleeting.

    Is Happiness Overrated? Shirley S. Wang 2011

  • For psychologists and behavioral economists, vacations are a window into the still only dimly understood mystery of human pleasure, a field known as hedonic psychology.

    Boston.com Top Stories 2010

  • That's good, because fat activates the brain's natural mu-opioid receptors, provoking what scientists call a hedonic response.

    Wired Top Stories Patrick Di Justo 2010

  • However, some countries, such as the US, also take into account changes in the quality of goods in a process known as hedonic price adjustment.

    MoneyWeek RSS - All 2009

  • However, some countries, such as the US, also take into account changes in the quality of goods in a process known as hedonic price adjustment.

    MoneyWeek RSS - All 2009

  • This desperate, presumably futile struggle for continued improvement is called the hedonic treadmill.

    10,000 Birds 2008

  • This desperate, presumably futile struggle for continued improvement is called the hedonic treadmill.

    10,000 Birds 2008

  • This desperate, presumably futile struggle for continued improvement is called the hedonic treadmill.

    10,000 Birds 2008

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