Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧑‍🌾 A rural idealist 🌳 Idyllic rural 👤 A person from Arcadia
Arcadian

Arcadian

1 8.3
A person who lives a peaceful, simple country life
  • proper noun
  • /ɑrˈkeɪdiən/
  • Literature
translation icon : arcadio
  • In literature, the term 'Arcadian' often refers to an idyllic rural lifestyle that many people dream of.

Examples

  • This was a clear sign of Sparta's trust in the loyalty and skills of these Arcadian soldiers.

  • The Arcadians enjoyed a simple life filled with farming and community celebrations.

  • If there is any place where he should have protected the Arcadians, it is here.

    Academic text (1998)

  • At first, the Eliens had the upper hand and pushed the Arcadians back into the Olympic Sanctuary.

  • Pausanias says the Arcadians believe the temple was designed by Ictinus, who built the Parthenon in Athens.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Here on the plain of Mantinea, Arcadians had fought three famous battles of antiquity—in 385 B.C., 362 B.C., and 222 B.C.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The festival attracted many visitors who sought a taste of the traditional, Arcadian way of life.

Synonyms

rustic
vsArcadian
  • Offensive
1 6.3

A person from the countryside who seems simple and not used to city life

is a romantic, idealized picture rather than a plain, simple reality
ruralist
vsArcadian
7.7

A person who prefers to live in the countryside and values country life

is more a romantic, idealized image rather than practical support

Surface Forms

Arcadian main

Morphology

Arcadian = Arcadia (transparent) = Arcadia + an

The proper-name-based formation yields a person associated with Arcadia; the formation is regular and predictable.

Etymology

Arcadian comes from the place name Arcadia in Greece, which stories often show as a quiet country world of shepherds and green fields. So calling someone an Arcadian can mean they are from that place or that they live an 'ideal' and 'peaceful' rural life.