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Circean. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Circean, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Circean in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
Circean you have here. The definition of the word
Circean will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
Circean, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Circe + -an.
Adjective
Circean (comparative more Circean, superlative most Circean)
- Pertaining to Circe, the Greek goddess, who first charmed her victims and then changed them into animals; hence, alluring but dangerous or degrading.
1794, Mary Wollstonecraft, An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution, II.2:Is it then surprizing […] that an empty mind should be employed only to vary the pleasures, which emasculated her circean court?
2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:Returned to the château just before it got dark, ate cold meats in Mrs Willems's kitchen. Learnt that J. and her Circean caresses were in Brussels on estate business […]
2016, Robert Henke, Eric Nicholson, Transnational Mobilities in Early Modern Theater, page 130:Another set of blinders stems from what might be called the Duessa syndrome: Protestant England associated hypertheatrical women with exotic foreignness, rhetorical display, physical allure, and Circean sexuality.
Derived terms