hieratic
- adjective
- /haɪəˈrætɪk/
- Literature
:
hierático
- But if much of modernism appears hieratic, hypotactical, and formalist, postmodernism strikes us by contrast as playful, paratactical, and deconstructionist.
Examples
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Its lack of ingratiating softness to counteract the hieratic quality has led it to have less exposure in the literature than its more famous companions, three of which also graced the exhibition; yet it would be the one I would choose to live with.
Academic text (1996) -
Because all things proceed from pole to pole, as we learn from Egyptian tombs where painted noblemen march forward to the past, preceding their descendants in hieratic order.
Fiction book (1991) -
And if you look at the hieratic just here... well, it's Hamunaptra.
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Although they provide figuration, not poetics, description without hieratic or vertical appeal, in fact, they argue to the opposite extreme: that you cannot have anything but interpretation.
Academic text (2000) -
These sculptures basically conform to the traditional hieratic Yoruba conception of the figure as seen on Yoruba houseposts in Africa.
Academic text (1991) -
The current generation may choose between the disciplinary tunnel vision of the preceding generation, with its unexamined liberal premises, and a hieratic Leftism committed to widespread "social change." 20
Academic text (1995) -
It is all part and parcel of the way he plays with opposites, puts together things that never quite make sense together, and swoops in tone from the hieratic to the bathetic, as when he tells us:
Blog text (13) -
Drifting farther and farther into esoterica and the recondite, seeking security in quasi-scientific technique and hieratic terminology, the discipline has lost the interest of the broad reading public.
Academic text (1991) -
Frontal, hieratic, and immobile, the figures are noticeably elongated, and their elongated proportions are only emphasized by their curiously small heads.
Academic text (1991) -
The artist's style is highly hieratic, using rigid forms and strict symmetry to convey authority.
Synonyms
1
8.8
Following strict rules and fixed forms, especially in art or ceremonies
Compounds
- Specialized
A fast, flowing form of ancient Egyptian writing used by priests for religious and official texts
How Formal
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word hieratic comes from the Greek root hier- meaning 'sacred' or 'priestly', and priests often followed fixed ritual forms. That's why hieratic can also mean very formal, stiff, or like a ritual.