Rhadamanthine
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Strictly and uncompromisingly just.
"When the father comes home and finds Georgiein disgrace, and Janey in tears, of course the ideal Rhadamanthine thing to do is to lay the coping stone to the boy's wall of isolation, and to add a fresh supply to Janey's bitter fountain. But not being Rhadamanthine, only weak and human and paternal, the sinful man ignores the lines of discipline marked out, and takes Georgie and Janey to his arms with quite impartial caresses and a cheery well-favoured comfort."
- 2 Inflexibly rigorous or severe.
"In a commodious gas-lit box, surrounded by books and papers, and with a mighty folio of loose leaves open before him — a book of Fate, in truth — sits a Rhadamanthine man, buttoned up in a great-coat often; for be it blazing July or frigid December, it is always cold at three o'clock in the morning."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"When the father comes home and finds Georgiein disgrace, and Janey in tears, of course the ideal Rhadamanthine thing to do is to lay the coping stone to the boy's wall of isolation, and to add a fresh supply to Janey's bitter fountain. But not being Rhadamanthine, only weak and human and paternal, the sinful man ignores the lines of discipline marked out, and takes Georgie and Janey to his arms with quite impartial caresses and a cheery well-favoured comfort."
Etymology
From Rhadamanthus + -ine, after Rhadamanthus, a king in Greek myths.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.