Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to the river Lethe; inducing forgetfulness or oblivion.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to Lethe; resembling in effect the water of Lethe.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word lethean.
Examples
-
Yet she had again dared to call herself happy; united to her admirer, to him who possessed and filled her whole heart, she yielded to the lethean powers of love, and knew and felt only his life and presence.
The Last Man 2003
-
In our mother-tongue prevails the same principle of dualism, the same conflict of elements, which not all the lethean baptism of the
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 38, December, 1860 Various
-
Oh, for some lethean draught that I might drink and forget!
The Hidden Hand 1888
-
Had Juliet so seen her love tokens dishonoured the sooner would she have sought the lethean herbs of the good apothecary.
The Four Million O. Henry 1886
-
Oh, for some lethean draught that I might drink and forget!
Capitola's Peril A Sequel to 'The Hidden Hand' Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth 1859
-
Yet she had again dared to call herself happy; united to her admirer, to him who possessed and filled her whole heart, she yielded to the lethean powers of love, and knew and felt only his life and presence.
III.5 1826
-
Yet she had again dared to call herself happy; united to her admirer, to him who possessed and filled her whole heart, she yielded to the lethean powers of love, and knew and felt only his life and presence.
The Last Man 1826
-
Yet she had again dared to call herself happy; united to her admirer, to him who possessed and filled her whole heart, she yielded to the lethean powers of love, and knew and felt only his life and presence.
The Last Man Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 1824
-
[(palliative, no lethean balm; and when it can endure its own suffering) 9.6 (s without incessant torments,)] TJ
Drelincourt and Rodalvi; or, Memoirs of Two Nobel Families Byron 1807
missanthropist commented on the word lethean
Oblivious, from Lethe, one of the rivers of hell, said to cause forgetfulness of the past to all who drank it's waters.
From greek Letho, old form of Lanthano: to forget
Daniel Lyon, Dictionary of the English Language, 1897
May 20, 2008
reesetee commented on the word lethean
Sometimes I feel as though I've had too much Lethe water....
May 20, 2008
Gammerstang commented on the word lethean
(adjective) - (1) Pertaining to the river Lethe; hence, pertaining to or causing oblivion or forgetfulness of the past.
--Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1908
(2) Oblivious; from Lethe, one of the rivers of hell. From Greek letho, old form of lanthano, to forget.
--Daniel Lyons' American Dictionary of the English Language, 1897
(3) Deadly, mortal, pestiferous.
--Thomas Blount's Glossographia, 1656
January 16, 2018