Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
mephitic. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
mephitic, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
mephitic in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
mephitic you have here. The definition of the word
mephitic will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
mephitic, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Latin mephīticus, from mephītis; compare French méphitique.
Adjective
mephitic (comparative more mephitic, superlative most mephitic)
- Foul-smelling or noxious, particularly of a gas or atmosphere.
1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LXI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. , volume III, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, pages 151–152:"I could have borne the sight of his crutch," said she, "but the crutch and the nephew together really oppress me like a mephitic vapour."
1874, Marcus Clarke, chapter V, in For the Term of His Natural Life:It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns into which one dare not penetrate.
1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 3:More than that, perhaps the worst thing, was a sort of mephitic fog, moistureless and invisible, that came and went like an exhalation of the arid earth itself.
Derived terms
Anagrams