Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A strong creative impulse, especially as a result of divine inspiration.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A blowing or breathing on, as of wind; a breath or blast of wind.
- n. An impelling mental force acting from within; supernal impulse or power, as of prophecy or expression; religious, poetic, or oratorical inspiration. Often spoken of as the divine afflatus, a translation of the Latin afflatus divinus, inspiration.
Wiktionary
- n. A sudden rush of creative impulse or inspiration, often attributed to divine influence.
- n. A breath or blast of wind.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A breath or blast of wind.
- n. A divine impartation of knowledge; supernatural impulse; inspiration.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a strong creative impulse; divine inspiration
Etymologies
- From Latin afflatus, originally adflatu (compare English flatulence ("digestive gas, fart")), past participle of afflo ("to blow on"). In artistic sense, introduced by Cicero in De Natura Deorum (The Nature of the Gods) (44 BCE) II.167, as alternative to existing and similar inspiration (literally “sucking in air”), which already had a more general and metaphorical sense, to emphasize specifically the initial insight and restore literal overtones. (Wiktionary)
- Latin afflātus, from past participle of afflāre, to breathe on : ad-, ad- + flāre, to blow; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“So, over and over, when we looked - when I looked up words in the dictionary, see where Whitman was in 1855, there was always some surprising interesting accuracy or some area like the word afflatus or flatus.”
“The definition of "afflatus" is: 1. inspiration; an impelling mental force acting from within.”
“He was the sum of all ambition and the centre of all importance; he was held to have achieved in the loftiest sense, and probably because he deserved to; a kind of afflatus sat upon him.”
“The Hitchcock piece in particular is concerned less with artistic afflatus than with locating the master of suspense in the traditions of Englishness that even his most America-centred work sprang from.”
The Guardian: I Found it at the Movies: Reflections of a Cinephile by Philip French – review
“Europe won't allow such a debate at home but feels the moral afflatus to tax its own citizens to promote one side of the argument in America.”
“Glenn Beck, of course, provides a divine afflatus.”
“Today's liberals, especially those who run the House, came of age amid the moral afflatus of the 1960s and are determined to remake America as a European entitlement state.”
“(Soundbite of laughter) GROSS: But afflatus of flatus actually means the miraculous communication of super natural knowledge, which kind of changes the whole feel of what hes saying there.”
“I dont know whether you say flatus or afflatus but it sounds like theres flatulence, flatulence surging through him.”
“(Reading) Through me the afflatus surging and surging ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘afflatus’.
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Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
If you want to see the definitions, too, go to
http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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250 Spelling Words
A selected sampling of words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
orecchiette, rhabdomancy, guayabera, orthoepy, opisthenar, maguey, proem, ciabatta, cioppino, banns, concinnity, asthenia and 237 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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briwref's list
defalcation, macerate, beldam, nescience, ochlocracy, bibelot, estivate, spatulated, introversive, mastoidal, belletristic, objurgation and 108 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
axilla, avalement, argil, argent, argand, arete, aretaics, areometer, areology, arenoid, arenaceous, arefy and 1214 more...
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words 2
janiform, remora, sprat, stoa, sone, lea, scow, atoll, Weltschmerz, barmy, concupiscent, actinic and 18 more...
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ubermensch's list
THE list
behoove, germane, imbroglio, pervicacious, squalid, bombastic, pudendum, chimera, crapulous, i-know-huh, ersatz, ennui and 8 more...
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My daily Wordsheets
paramour, flail, addle, adduce, adduction, adenitis, adenocarcinoma, adhocracy, adiabatic, adipocyte, adiposity, postpone and 25 more...
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Vargas Llosa - Aunt Julia
appetency, chrematistics, parricide, rending, arnica, hieratic, heterae, epithalamicide, lubricous, lubricious, foundling, acrostic and 4 more...
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Words That Mean Things
I found most of these words in books! That means they MUST be good.
flinders, periplus, palaver, midden, cadge, legerdemain, flense, lapidary, geas, bailey, susurration, satoris and 128 more...
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difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 256 more...
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Vega's Logophile Dictionary
Words I've heard/read in use, words being learnt, words that I want to eventually use in everyday language, words that are high-brow and elitist and scholarly and obscure, words that display the wo...
parsimonious, torpor, recalcitrant, plebeian, vitriol, gumption, augur, aestival, celerity, diaphanous, farrago, nonpareil and 287 more...
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tree's Words
aphasia, anhedonia, promontory, misandry, amanuensis, asymptote, penultimate, muslin, tundra, calico, kinaesthesia, rutabaga and 209 more...
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bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1402 more...
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Infinite Jest
Words taken from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
prorector, monograph, post-fourier, snuffle, rototremble, creatus, enfilade, subanimalistic, balletic, espadrilles, leonine, cirri and 1153 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for afflatus.
hernesheir US Railway Assn. Standard Cipher Code, 1906; telegraph shorthand for "Advise us what to do". Jan 19, 2013
skipvia I think you're referring to Firmament-Clogging Rotteness. Not a general list, though--these are from a specific source, so to speak... Apr 9, 2008
chained_bear I think he did. "Wherever you may be, let the wind blow free."
That isn't what it's called, I just felt like saying it. Apr 9, 2008
reesetee I thought skipvia already did that? *hoping against hope* Apr 9, 2008
chained_bear You are more than welcome. :) Just wait till I start a Specific Afflatus list. Apr 9, 2008
ofravens the phrase "specific afflatus" just made my night. Thank you. Apr 9, 2008
chained_bear So maybe this is actually the fart of an Aflac Duck? *wondering if there needs to be a Specific Afflatus list* Apr 8, 2008
pterodactyl Fart noises, yes indeed... and isn't there a cartoon duck that sells insurance, called the Aflac Duck? Apr 8, 2008
ofravens Simultaneously reminds me of fart noises and Daffy Duck. Apr 8, 2008
emily_morine Far from seeming a good match to "a divine inspiration," this word reminds me of flatulence. Actually, maybe that's fitting. I'm not sure. Dec 7, 2006