What does "dithyramb" mean?
A raucous and ardent choral hymn sung in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus.
Dithyramb
/ˈdɪθ.ɪ.ɹæm/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A raucous and ardent choral hymn sung in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus.
- Grammar: dithyramb is listed as noun.
- Nearest alternatives: ballad, bucolic, diatribe, dirge.
- Usage evidence: While those who drown a truth’s empiric part In dithyramb or dogma turn frenetic; — Than whom no writer could be less poetic He left this lesson for all verse, all art.
How to use "dithyramb"
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Meaning check
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Source and review context
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A raucous and ardent choral hymn sung in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus.
- 2 (ancient Greece) a passionate hymn (usually in honor of Dionysus) wordnet
- 3 A poem or oration in the same style.
"While those who drown a truth’s empiric part In dithyramb or dogma turn frenetic; — Than whom no writer could be less poetic He left this lesson for all verse, all art."
- 4 a wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing wordnet
- 5 An impassioned speech; a rant.
"During the seven decades that have elapsed since that distracted wife, mother, and blindly impassioned mistress threw herself beneath the wheels of the train - thus terminating, with a gesture symbolic of what already had happened to her soul, her tragedy of disorientation - a tumultuous and unremitting dithyramb of romances, news reports, and unrecorded cries of anguish has been going up to the honor of the bull-demon of the labyrinth: the wrathful, destructive, maddening aspect of the same god who, when benign, is the vivifying principle of the world."
Example
"While those who drown a truth’s empiric part In dithyramb or dogma turn frenetic; — Than whom no writer could be less poetic He left this lesson for all verse, all art."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "dithyramb"?
Common synonyms include: ballad, bucolic, diatribe, dirge, elegy, epic.
How do you use "dithyramb" in a sentence?
While those who drown a truth’s empiric part In dithyramb or dogma turn frenetic; — Than whom no writer could be less poetic He left this lesson for all verse, all art.
How do you pronounce "dithyramb"?
Pronounced /ˈdɪθ.ɪ.ɹæm/.
Etymology
From Latin dithyrambus, from Ancient Greek δῑθύραμβος (dīthúrambos). According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it is of non-Indo-European origin (Pre-Greek substrate, Illyrian/Phrygian), related to θρίαμβος and ἴαμβος. Brandenstein also compares Sanskrit अङ्ग (aṅga, “member”).