orphic
- adjective
- /ˈɔr.fɪk/
- Literature
:
órfico
- The spelunker, for all his Orphic intrepidity, reinforces the superficiality of our relation to the Earth; his frisson is a testament to the conceptual limits of the surface.
Examples
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In a musical and implicitly Orphic figuration, Sartre writes that African and Caribbean poets use the songs and dances of their native populations as subjective exercises in processes of self-discovery.
Academic text (1998) -
But also, Orphic Beauty is way more of an indie brand than Kiko.
-
Historians could conceivably soften their willfulness by heeding the orphic voice of poets.
Academic text (2007) -
That is paradise, a kind of Orphic fade out into animistic animistic anonymity and elegiac mutinous.
-
More importantly, he was the first to explain it, while Mallarmé and Valéry might lay before dance their orphic tributes—that it was "the visual embodiment of the idea" or "the pure act of metamorphosis"—
Academic text (1991) -
The orphic symbols in the ancient texts are difficult to interpret and hold many hidden meanings.
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Many artists are drawn to the orphic nature of dreams, seeking inspiration in their mysterious messages.
-
In her lecture, she discussed the orphic qualities of nature and how they influence human emotions.
Synonyms
∞
3.2
Strange or unusual in a way that makes people feel uncomfortable
498
5.1
Hard to understand or explain because it seems strange
125
6.3
Hard to understand or explain
106
7.1
Having a spiritual quality that feels beyond normal understanding
47
7.8
Hard to explain or understand
43
8.1
Hard to understand because it seems secret or mysterious
35
8.1
Having a strong spiritual quality or seeming mysterious
35
9.0
Hidden from view and not easy to see
27
8.1
Hard to understand and often seems mysterious
23
8.6
Very hard to understand or measure how deep something is
19
7.0
Something people cannot understand or find a clear reason for
12
8.9
Hard to understand because it shows no clear meaning or feeling
1
9.9
Mysterious and secret, like a code understood by only a few people
1
9.9
Hard to understand because it is mysterious and sounds like it predicts the future
1
9.3
Hard to understand, like a puzzle
1
9.9
Mysterious and hard to understand with hidden meaning
1
9.9
Too deep or mysterious to understand
Hard to understand because it has a hidden meaning
Mysterious and hard to understand, like a prophecy
Said or written in a puzzling, mysterious way
Strange and hard to understand, giving a feeling of mystery
Calm and showing no feelings so you cannot know thoughts
Hard to understand because it is mysterious and unclear
Antonyms
How Mysterious
Surface Forms
Morphology
orphic = Orpheus (opaque) = orph + ic
The word is a learned adjective built on the name Orpheus with the adjectival suffix -ic, but its modern sense is not predictably compositional for most learners.
Etymology
Orphic comes from the name Orpheus, a famous Greek poet whose music and 'secret songs' were thought to reveal hidden truths. So, something orphic feels 'mysterious' and like it holds deep, hidden meaning beyond normal understanding.