Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Thought of as having the form of a beast. Used of a deity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having the form of a wild beast.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective having the form of a
beast
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The failure of even the most stringently iconoclastic monotheists is that while they reject the animal heads, the horns and the hooves of theriomorphic deities they nevertheless maintain the absurd anthropomorphism of not just humanity but masculinity.
Archive 2007-04-01 Hal Duncan 2007
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The failure of even the most stringently iconoclastic monotheists is that while they reject the animal heads, the horns and the hooves of theriomorphic deities they nevertheless maintain the absurd anthropomorphism of not just humanity but masculinity.
A Response to a Response Hal Duncan 2007
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To ascribe features of masculinity to the divine is as blasphemous as to ascribe features of bestiality -- as in the theriomorphic deities of pagan religions so abhorred by monotheism -- the very blasphemy that iconoclasm reacts against.
A Response to a Response Hal Duncan 2007
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To ascribe features of masculinity to the divine is as blasphemous as to ascribe features of bestiality -- as in the theriomorphic deities of pagan religions so abhorred by monotheism -- the very blasphemy that iconoclasm reacts against.
Archive 2007-04-01 Hal Duncan 2007
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To accept one's 'therianism' therian - derived from theriomorphic- is a person who believes his core identity is that of an animal, or an animal's spirit I believe.
Archive 2006-10-08 Terry Nelson 2006
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To accept one's 'therianism' therian - derived from theriomorphic- is a person who believes his core identity is that of an animal, or an animal's spirit I believe.
Identity and Conversion Terry Nelson 2006
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Here again, though to a less extent than in tree cults, the theriomorphic aspect recurs; in the north of Europe, in ancient Greece, in China, the water or river spirit is horse or bull-shaped; the water monster in serpent shape is even more widely found, but it is less strictly the spirit of the water.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 Various
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It is commonly assumed that the animals associated with certain deities are sacred because the god was originally theriomorphic; this is doubtless the case in certain instances; but Apollo Smintheus,
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 Various
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The god, anthropomorphic or theriomorphic, was worshipped in well-defined rites; the organization was highly developed; and the ritual is analogous to many other ancient rituals.
The Witch-cult in Western Europe A Study in Anthropology Margaret Alice Murray 1913
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Galilee with theriomorphic polytheism, that is, the tendency to embody the qualities of divinity in animal forms.
The Ancient East 1894
chained_bear commented on the word theriomorphic
"in Palæont. resembling a quadruped or mammal, as ‘the theriomorphous reptiles of the Permian period’." (OED)
September 15, 2008