Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In the style of a dithyramb.
  • Intensely lyrical; bacchanalian.
  • noun A dithyramb.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Pertaining to, or resembling, a dithyramb; wild and boisterous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or resembling a dithyramb; especially, passionate, intoxicated with enthusiasm.
  • noun A dithyramb.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or in the manner of a dithyramb

Etymologies

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Examples

  • He is quite right that Wilde is in the play as a foil to Housman, and elevates the "dithyrambic" artist at the expense of the scrupulous scholar.

    'The Invention of Love': An Exchange Stoppard, Tom 2000

  • Heine’s mental history, but because they are a specimen of his power in that kind of dithyrambic writing which, in less masterly hands, easily becomes ridiculous:

    The Essays of "George Eliot" Complete George Eliot 1849

  • We are met almost at the threshold by a colossal epic, Creation, Man and the Messiah (1830); by songs that turn into dithyrambic odes, by descriptive pieces which embrace the universe, by all the froth and roar and turbidity of genius, with none of its purity and calm.

    Henrik Ibsen 2008

  • Let us recapitulate, since the steps Socrates is taking are so important for his critique of poetry (it is noteworthy that at several junctures, Socrates generalizes his results from epic to dithyrambic, encomiastic, iambic, and lyric poetry; 533e5-534a7, 534b7-c7).

    Plato on Rhetoric and Poetry Griswold, Charles 2008

  • As already noted, Socrates classifies poetry (dithyrambic and tragic poetry are named) as a species of rhetoric.

    Plato on Rhetoric and Poetry Griswold, Charles 2008

  • We are met almost at the threshold by a colossal epic, Creation, Man and the Messiah (1830); by songs that turn into dithyrambic odes, by descriptive pieces which embrace the universe, by all the froth and roar and turbidity of genius, with none of its purity and calm.

    Henrik Ibsen 2008

  • Youth only can understand all that lies in the dithyrambic outpourings of youth when, after a stormy siege, of the most frantic folly and coolest common-sense, the heart finally yields to the assault of the latest comer, be it hope, or despair, as some mysterious power determines.

    The Deserted Woman 2007

  • Youth only can understand all that lies in the dithyrambic outpourings of youth when, after a stormy siege, of the most frantic folly and coolest common-sense, the heart finally yields to the assault of the latest comer, be it hope, or despair, as some mysterious power determines.

    The Deserted Woman 2007

  • After the politicians, I went to the poets; tragic, dithyrambic, and all sorts.

    The Apology 2006

  • Such an author will at one moment write in a dithyrambic vein, as though he were tipsy; at another, nay, on the very next page, he will be pompous, severe, profoundly learned and prolix, stumbling on in the most cumbrous way and chopping up everything very small; like the late Christian Wolf, only in a modern dress.

    The Art of Literature 2004

Comments

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  • see dithyramb

    May 25, 2007

  • JM refuses to indulge in dithyrambic status updates no matter how much he is provoked by the enemies within and the antagonistic efforts of those who strive to bring it all down around his ears! Buggers!

    September 22, 2010