Definitions

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

  • adjective Of or relating to Cyrenaica or Cyrene.
  • adjective Of or advocating the doctrines of Aristippus of Cyrene, who argued that pleasure is the only good in life.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Cyrenaica or Cyrene.
  • noun A disciple of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to Cyrene, an ancient Greek city, capital of Cyrenaica, on the north coast of Africa.
  • Pertaining or belonging to the Greek school of hedonistic philosophy established by Aristippus of Cyrene, a disciple of Socrates.
  • Also Cyrenian.
  • noun One of the Cyrenaic school of philosophers. See I., 2.

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

  • adjective Pertaining to Cyrenaica, an ancient country of northern Africa, and to Cyrene, its principal city; also, to a school of philosophy founded by Aristippus, a native of Cyrene.

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

  • adjective Of or relating to Cyrenaica, an ancient country in North Africa, or to Cyrene, its principal city.
  • adjective Of or relating to a school of philosophy founded by Aristippus, a native of Cyrene.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Cyrenaica.
  • noun A disciple of the school of Aristippus.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin Cyrenaicus, from Cyrene, in Libya.

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Examples

  • [205] He in course of time founded a school of his own, called the Cyrenaic from his own place of birth, and from the fact that many subsequent leaders of the school also belonged to Cyrene.

    A Short History of Greek Philosophy John Marshall 1880

  • Xenophon is thus confirmed by that of Plato, and we are therefore justified in calling Socrates the first utilitarian; as indeed there is no side or aspect of philosophy which may not with reason be ascribed to him — he is Cynic and Cyrenaic, Platonist and

    Philebus 2006

  • Then, in the time of Nero, a single plant was found deep in the Cyrenaic desert.

    languagehat.com: ROMAN LASER. 2005

  • Cyrenaic school, saw pleasure as the good which all living things naturally seek, exalted the bodily pleasures as most intense, and inclined to a view of wisdom as an ability to make the most out of the present in pleasure and avoidance of pain, though not without thought of the similar consequences of present action.

    HAPPINESS AND PLEASURE ABRAHAM EDEL 1968

  • This was the view of two contem - porary schools, the Cyrenaic and the Epicurean.

    SKEPTICISM IN ANTIQUITY PHILLIP DE LACY 1968

  • And working for humanity does not exclude a healthy hedonism; not the narrow Cyrenaic, but an enlightened altruistic hedonism.

    Woman Her Sex and Love Life William J. Robinson

  • It is worth while to remark that, even if the approach to the Cyrenaic ideal were so common as not to seem wholly unnatural, that would not prove that it ought to be embraced; it is natural for men to err, but that does not make error our duty.

    A Handbook of Ethical Theory George Stuart Fullerton

  • Jonathan, who had stirred up the Cyrenaic rising and started the slanders, was tortured and burnt alive.

    Josephus Norman Bentwich 1927

  • The Cyrenaic, on the other hand, did not seek to make impervious the surface of contact with nature and society, but sought to heighten its sensibility, that it might become a medium of pleasurable feeling.

    The Approach to Philosophy Ralph Barton Perry 1916

  • Cyrenaic philosophies of life seem too egoistic and narrow in outlook, this inadequacy has been largely overcome through the modern conception of the relation of the individual to society.

    The Approach to Philosophy Ralph Barton Perry 1916

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