Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Possessed, produced, or influenced by a demon: demoniac creatures.
- adj. Of, resembling, or suggestive of a devil; fiendish: demoniac energy; a demoniacal fit.
- n. One who is or seems to be possessed by a demon.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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.
- n. 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.
- n. [capitalized] One of a section of the Anabaptists who maintained that, the devils would ultimately be saved.
Wiktionary
- adj. possessed or controlled by a demon.
- adj. Of or pertaining to demons; demonic.
- n. One who is possessed or controlled by a demon.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pertaining to, or characteristic of, a demon or evil spirit; devilish.
- adj. Influenced or produced by a demon or evil spirit.
- adj. resembling or suggesting possession by a demon.
- adj. in a murderous frenzy as if possessed by a demon.
- n. A human being possessed by a demon or evil spirit; one whose faculties are directly controlled by a demon.
- n. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect of Anabaptists who maintain that the demons or devils will finally be saved.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. frenzied as if possessed by a demon
- n. someone who acts as if possessed by a demon
Etymologies
- Latin daemoniacus. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English demoniak, from Late Latin daemoniacus, from Greek *daimoniakos, from daimonios, of a spirit, from daimōn, divine power; see demon. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
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.”
“A more perplexing difficulty arises from his handling of the cases of so-called demoniac possession.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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
“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.”
“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
“Laughter without air and sunshine becomes morbid, decadent, demoniac.”
“Yes | No | Report from demoniac wrote 1 year 1 week ago”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘demoniac’.
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Ends with C but not with "-ic"
bloc, roc, arc, orc, disc, sac, xebec, havoc, bivouac, sumac, maniac, insomniac and 418 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Lolita
Words compiled while reading Lolita
lolita, solecism, cognomen, etiolate, tendresse, expiatory, filch, paroxysm, arabesques, sibilant, manque, uranist and 181 more...
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7756 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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set 8
part two from from 4
grisly, mincing, succor, punctilious, thrall, grudging, seethe, bivouac, automaton, broach, maelstrom, expostulation and 80 more...
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GRE 3500 D
debonair, debutante, decadence, deciduous, declivity, decollete, decrepit, decrepitude, defection, defile, defoliate, defray and 78 more...
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