Dionysian

[ dahy-uh-nish-uh n, -nis-ee-uh n, -nahy-see- ]

/ ˌdaɪ əˈnɪʃ ən, -ˈnɪs i ən, -ˈnaɪ si- /

adjective

of, relating to, or honoring Dionysus or Bacchus.

recklessly uninhibited; unrestrained; undisciplined; frenzied; orgiastic.

Origin of Dionysian

First recorded in 1600–10; Dionys(us) + -ian

Example sentences from the Web for dionysian

It was clear to me that at least at the end of his life the Dionysian streak was trying to get out.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days |David Freeman |December 13, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The innocence of youth should be protected from a morality which is far more morbid than the maddest Dionysian revel.

Suspended Judgments |John Cowper Powys
Book of Mormon chronology therefore sustains in general the correctness of the common or Dionysian system.

Jesus the Christ |James Edward Talmage
It is impossible not to see in this a ritualism rather of the Dionysian than of the modern sacerdotal type.

The Oxford Reformers |Frederic Seebohm

There is a Dionysian strain in his music that too often is in jarring discord with the intellectual structure of his work.

Ivory Apes and Peacocks |James Huneker
There, other Dionysian Myrmidons were patrolling, making sure that no non-Dionysian got in except by special invitation.

Pagan Passions |Gordon Randall Garrett

British Dictionary definitions for dionysian

Dionysian

/ (ˌdaɪəˈnɪzɪən) /

adjective

of or relating to Dionysus

(sometimes not capital) (in the philosophy of Nietzsche) of or relating to the set of creative qualities that encompasses spontaneity, irrationality, the rejection of discipline, etc

(often not capital) wild or orgiastic

of or relating to any of the historical characters named Dionysius

Compare (for senses 2, 3): Apollonian

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

Dionysian

adjective

Origin of Dionysian

Example sentences from the Web for dionysian

British Dictionary definitions for dionysian

adjective