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Glite Dictionary
🧠 Wolf transformation belief 🐺 Like a werewolf
lycanthropic

lycanthropic

1 9.9
About the false belief that one can turn into a wolf, treated as a mental illness
  • adjective
  • /ˌlaɪkənˈθrɒpɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : licántropo
  • Many cultures throughout history have legends about lycanthropic beings that roam the forests under the full moon.

Examples

  • In my four thrillers about Milwaukee homicide detective Nick Lupo, I portrayed him as a tragic hero at first, a slave to his lycanthropic condition, but his arc shows the complexity of his morality.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The patient described his lycanthropic delusion, believing he could transform into a wolf during the night.

  • There is an even rarer condition named Good Lord Lycanthropic into metamorphosis.

  • In folklore, characters often suffer from a lycanthropic curse that turns them into wolves when the moon is full.

Synonyms

wolfish
vslycanthropic
1 6.9

Looking or acting like a wolf, often in a threatening way

describes a psychiatric delusion of turning into that animal
wolflike
vslycanthropic
6.8

Like a wolf in look or behaviour

refers to a belief of becoming that animal as a psychiatric delusion

How Delusional

psychotic
  • Specialized
167 8.4
lycanthropic
  • Specialized
1 9.9
superstitious
58 4.9
rational
382 3.8

Surface Forms

lycanthropic positive

Morphology

lycanthropic = lycanthropy (opaque) = lycanthropy + ic

Standard adjective formation from the noun 'lycanthropy' with '-ic' meaning 'relating to' or 'pertaining to'.

Etymology

Lycanthropic comes from Greek roots lycan- ('wolf') and anthropos ('man'), which together mean 'wolf-man'. So, in medicine and stories the word is used for the belief or delusion that someone can become a wolf.