demoniac
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French démoniaque, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin daemoniacus.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /dɪˈməʊnɪak/, /diməˈnaɪæk/
Adjective
demoniac (comparative more demoniac, superlative most demoniac)
- possessed or controlled by a demon.
- Of or pertaining to demons; demonic.
- 1928, H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu", Weird Tales, Vol. 11, No. 2, pages 159–178, 287:
- Animal fury and orgiastic licence here whipped themselves to demoniac heights by howls and squawking ecstasies that tore and reverberated through those nighted woods like pestilential tempests from the gulfs of hell.
- 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber & Faber 2005, p. 216:
- There was movement everywhere, screaming, demoniac activity; the old man was coming across the tumbling logs.
- 1928, H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu", Weird Tales, Vol. 11, No. 2, pages 159–178, 287:
Noun
demoniac (plural demoniacs)
- Someone who is possessed by a demon.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 53:
- The exorcism was dropped from the second Edwardian Prayer Book, because of its implication that unbaptised infants were demoniacs […].
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 53:
References
- “demoniac”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.