angelical

English

Etymology

Latin angelicus, Ancient Greek ἀγγελικός (angelikos, “of or for a messenger, angel”) + -al

Adjective

angelical (comparative more angelical, superlative most angelical)

1. Belonging to, or proceeding from, angels; resembling, characteristic of, or partaking of the nature of, an angel.
   • circa 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 3, sc. 1,

     O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!

     Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?

     Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!

   • 1869, Charles Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveller, ch. 20,

     She was all angelical gentleness.

   • 2005, Joan Dupont, "The Cannes Festival: The faces of Tommy Lee Jones," International Herald Tribune, 21 May (retrieved 2 Nov. 2008),

     "You wouldn't be speaking badly if you said that there was something angelical about the character of Pete Perkins, but one of those angels with a sword," Jones said.

Derived terms

• angelicalness

Translations

resembling, characteristic of, an angel — see angelic

References

• "angelical" at OneLook® Dictionary Search.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.

Anagrams

• englacial
• galenical, Galenical