Refine this word faster

Stronger alternatives Opposite tone Use in context Cross-language nuance

Demon

//ˈdiː.mən// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A male given name from Ancient Greek.

    "Demon writes that Taurus, the chief captain of Minos, was slain by Theseus at the mouth of the port, in a naval combat as he was sailing out for Athens."

Noun
  1. 1
    An evil supernatural being.; An evil spirit resident in or working for Hell; a devil.

    "So what does the Gospel of Judas really say? It says that Judas is a specific demon called the "Thirteenth." In certain Gnostic traditions, this is the given name of the king of demons - an entity known as Ialdabaoth who lives in the 13th realm above the earth. Judas is his human alter ego, his undercover agent in the world. These Gnostics equated Ialdabaoth with the Hebrew Yahweh, whom they saw as a jealous and wrathful deity and an opponent of the supreme God whom Jesus came to earth to reveal. Whoever wrote the Gospel of Judas was a harsh critic of mainstream Christianity and its rituals. Because Judas is a demon working for Ialdabaoth, the author believed, when Judas sacrifices Jesus he does so to the demons, not to the supreme God. This mocks mainstream Christians' belief in the atoning value of Jesus' death and in the effectiveness of the Eucharist."

  2. 2
    Acronym of distinct electron motion particle: a quasiparticle, a type of massless neutral electron excitation associated with superconductivity. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
  3. 3
    Alternative spelling of daemon. alt-of, alternative
  4. 4
    Alternative letter-case form of demon (“card game”). alt-of, uncountable
  5. 5
    an evil supernatural being wordnet
Show 13 more definitions
  1. 6
    An evil supernatural being.; A false god or idol; a Satanic divinity. historical
  2. 7
    someone extremely diligent or skillful wordnet
  3. 8
    An evil supernatural being.; A very wicked or malevolent person; also (in weakened sense) a mischievous person, especially a child.
  4. 9
    a cruel wicked and inhuman person wordnet
  5. 10
    An evil supernatural being.; A source (especially personified) of great evil or wickedness; a destructive feeling or character flaw.

    "The demon of stupidity haunts me whenever I open my mouth."

  6. 11
    An evil supernatural being.; A person's fears or anxieties. in-plural

    "After a short spell on an adult psychiatric ward, she decided to find her own way to deal with her demons."

  7. 12
    A neutral supernatural being.; A person's inner spirit or genius; a guiding or creative impulse.

    "Oh Anthony […] Thy Dæmon that thy spirit which keepes thee, is Noble, Couragious, high vnmatchable."

  8. 13
    A neutral supernatural being.; A tutelary deity or spirit intermediate between the major Olympian gods and mankind, especially a deified hero or the entity which supposedly guided Socrates, telling him what not to do. Greek
  9. 14
    A neutral supernatural being.; A spirit not considered to be inherently evil; a (non-Christian) deity or supernatural being.
  10. 15
    A neutral supernatural being.; A hypothetical entity with special abilities postulated for the sake of a thought experiment in philosophy or physics.

    "Let the orders now be that each demon is to stop all molecules from crossing his area in either direction except 100 coming from A, arbitrarily chosen to be let pass into B, and a greater number, having among them less energy but equal momentum, to cross from B to A."

  11. 16
    Someone with great strength, passion or skill for a particular activity, pursuit etc.; an enthusiast.

    "He’s a demon at the card tables."

  12. 17
    A type of patience or solitaire (card game) played in the UK and/or US.

    "‘That's much the best feeling to have.’ She dealt out the first row of ‘demon’."

  13. 18
    Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genera Notocrypta and Udaspes.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English demon, a borrowing from Medieval Latin dēmōn, daemōn (“lar, familiar spirit, guardian spirit”), from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “dispenser, god, protective spirit”). Doublet of daimon.

Etymology 2

From distinct electron motion + -on.

Etymology 3

From Maxwell's demon; a derivation from “disk and execution monitor” is generally considered a backronym.

Etymology 4

From Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “ordinary citizens, common people from a district, in a city-state”).

See also for "demon"

Synonyms Antonyms Rhymes Sentences Translate Word Type Pronunciation Word Forms

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciation

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: demon