Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to dancing.
- n. A dancer.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- [cap. or lowercase] Relating to the Muse Terpsichore, or to dancing and lyrical poetry, which were sacred to this Muse: as, the terpsichorean art (that is, dancing).
- n. [lowercase] A dancer.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to Terpsichore; of or pertaining to dancing.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a performer who dances professionally
- adj. of or relating to dancing
Etymologies
- From Terpsichore, the Muse of dance in Greek mythology. (Wiktionary)
- From Terpsichore. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It is the custom at some of their gatherings, after the hunting season is over, for the men to indulge in a kind of terpsichorean performance, at the same time relating in Homeric style the heroic deeds they have done.”
The First Landing on Wrangel Island With Some Remarks on the Northern Inhabitants
“Astaire 1899-1987 couldn't stand to think of himself as the embodiment of terpsichorean romance or a pin-up boy for love-starved shopgirls.”
“But it demonstrated that—at least here—Mr. Lepage could do everything except for a few high leg lifts his terpsichorean partners could do.”
The Wall Street Journal: A Life in Multiple Roles: Lepage's Enigmatic Dance
“Everyone loved how we deflected their thoughts from the scurrilous rumors of a government-instigated famine in the Ukraine with a veritable cornucopia of terpsichorean appetizers!”
“Showing what happens (lucky you) when you get caught between the moon and New York City, Twyla Tharp's Come Fly Away, her terpsichorean celebration of the music of Frank Sinatra (27 songs, with the classic arrangements), swept, timelessly hip, into Segerstrom Hall.”
“Showing what happens lucky you when you get caught between the moon and New York City, Twyla Tharp's Come Fly Away, her terpsichorean celebration of the music of Frank Sinatra, swept into Segerstrom Hall.”
“From terpsichorean temptress to sorority sweetheart, just like that.”
“They've taken to mimicking lawn-irrigation systems in imitation, terpsichorean scholars tell us, of a short-lived fad from 1980s Australia.”
The Wall Street Journal: After the Binge Must Come the Purge
“The same way that North American big band jazz is closely intertwined with popular dance music, Latin Jazz does a perennial cha-cha-cha back-and-forth with salsa and mambo and other terpsichorean forms.”
The Wall Street Journal: The Jazz Scene: Rhythm Kings and the Chairman of the Board
“This terpsichorean "violent exercise" finally ended when "the headman, waving his sword over my head, struck it into the ground, about two inches from my left foot [and] made a short discourse, which my interpreter told me was only to bid me a hearty welcome.”
The Wall Street Journal: Before the Tears: The Cherokees' Proud Past
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘terpsichorean’.
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phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tabacosis, tabanid, tabaret, tabati?re, tabby, tabefaction, tabellary, tabellion, tabernacle, tabernacular, tabescent, tabific and 930 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Film
jidaigeki, samurai, Kurosawa, action, comedy, drama, Bergman, Buñuel, surreal, rotoscope, melodrama, Cinerama and 333 more...
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250 Further Spelling Words
Another compilation of spelling words suitable for intermediate to advanced spellers.
venturi, aesir, affenpinscher, rottweiler, amanuensis, balletomane, hansard, sangfroid, yukata, capriccio, cuisse, heriot and 237 more...
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Redundancing
The Moves. Do~do~ditty!
tango, bolero, cha cha, foxtrot, foxtantino, hip hop, hustle, jive, merengue, two step, paso doble, quickstep and 219 more...
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Amos.Oz's list
"I am very concerned with the state of words. Words keep me up at night."
~Stacy Piestarantism, lucubration, psychopomp, wlatsome, logolept, hypnogogic, aphenphosmphobia, ataraxia, huggles, lucubration, sennight, plumicorn and 10 more...
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Eollodwyn's list
Favoritest Words Ever
abscond, draconian, wan, neophyte, defenestration, busker, sibilant, superfluous, facetious, zealot, auspicious, hubris and 9 more...
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Words of the day
The list of Wordnik words of the day.
panurgic, chapfallen, billingsgate, latration, witticaster, slitheroo, rux, crotchet, mirliton, arenose, ruelle, jane-of-apes and 76 more...
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G...R...E
gross.
sybarite, restiveness, churl, nepotism, jingoism, pusillanimous, gaffe, incisive, enervate, bucolic, concomitant, abeyance and 158 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 475 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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summer words 2009
how many words can I make mine this summer?
largess, hoyden, catholic, fornicatress, quean, slattern, bildungsroman, sybaritic, descresent, nodus, frittle, callipygian and 529 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Namesakes
Words derived from names, be they historical, literary, or mythological.
quixotic, cereal, odyssey, jovial, mercurial, erotic, achilles' heel, confucianism, lovecraftian, narcissism, echo, fallopian and 101 more...
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Bodily Functions
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Reading Reading
Words from the works of Peter Reading - at least one from each (except the Schwitters-esque erosions, cut-ups etc).
overbright, pimpled, muskiness, effuse, stoup, maul, unlevel, viscid, perfidious, glibly, aloes, drouth and 449 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for terpsichorean.
grant_barrett This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day. Nov 11, 2009
yarb Each of the children has picked up an empty and, quite nonchalantly,
hurls it down onto the grans, young mums and spinsters and babes.
No one evinces surprise or alarm or even vexation,
fox-trotting through the smashed bits, Terpsichorean and deft.
- Peter Reading, Ukulele Music, 1985 May 30, 2009
Prolagus Yes, frindley, and this is where claudicant comes from. Nov 14, 2008
reesetee *loves that frindley names her musical instruments* Nov 14, 2008
frindley I named one of my baroque flutes Terpsichore. The other was called Euterpe. My modern flute was called Claude, before I discovered that "Claudius" meant lame (thanks a heap, Robert Graves). Nov 14, 2008
reesetee I third that sentiment. Nov 14, 2008
chained_bear I agree with said Brantley dude about 'Billy Elliot.' Neat story. Nov 14, 2008
john “Much of the power of ‘Billy Elliot’ as an honest tear-jerker lies in its ability to give equal weight to the sweet dreams of terpsichorean flight and the sourness of a dream-denying reality, with the two elements locked in a vital and unending dialogue.�?
The New York Times, In Hard Times, Born to Pirouette, by Ben Brantley, November 14, 2008
Nov 14, 2008
super-logos I am with chained-bear. I have never liked the sound of this word. It lacks coloratura. Aug 22, 2008
johnmperry One of the nine muses Jul 18, 2008
repsac3 ...but this word always makes me hungry for some cheesy comestibles...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDat9zdw7Gs Sep 6, 2007
chained_bear Actually, I think it sounds like a disease, and should go on your "Not as Awful as They Sound" list. Feb 15, 2007
reesetee Terpsichore. It just *sounds* like dancing, doesn't it? Feb 14, 2007
chained_bear of, pertaining to, or of the nature of dancing, from "Terpsichore," the Muse of dance. Feb 13, 2007