Gnomic

adj

adj ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, or relating to gnomes (sententious sayings).

    "His birth-place was Colophon, an Ionian city of Asia-Minor; a city long famous as the seat of elegiac and gnomic poetry, and ranking the poet Minmermus amongst its celebrated men."

  2. 2
    Mysterious and often incomprehensible yet seemingly wise.

    "He always makes gnomic utterances."

  3. 3
    Expressing general truths or aphorisms.

    "gnomic aspect"

Adjective
  1. 1
    relating to or containing gnomes wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abbreviatedabridgedaphoristicaposiopesticaxiomaticbrief

Example

More examples

"The philosopher is known for his gnomic diction."

Etymology

From French gnomique, ultimately from Ancient Greek γνωμικός (gnōmikós), from γνώμη (gnṓmē, “thought, judgement”), akin to γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “know”). By surface analysis, gnome + -ic.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.