lethean

/liːˈθi.ən/

lethean adjective: of or relating to death or forgetfulness.

Adjective (1)

lethean

Of or relating to death or forgetfulness.
- Men said that the garden had been roofed over against the sun with great sheets of lead and copper, leaving no cranny through which the tiniest star could peer down. Some swore that the privacy of its masters during their visits was ensured by a lethean slumber which Dwerulas, through his magic...1938 April, Clark Ashton Smith, “The Garden of Adompha”, in Weird Tales, volume 31

Lethean

(Greek, poetic) Of or relating to the river Lethe, one of the four rivers of Hades. Those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness.
- They ferry over this Lethean sound.1667, Milton, Paradise Lost
- The cup which was offered to you when you departed from Elysium was to be the Lethean draught, which would make you forget the joys you had experienced[.]1813, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, The Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff, London: T. Hookham, jun., and E.T. Hookham, page 99

From Latin Lēthē, from Ancient Greek Λήθη (Lḗthē).

What does lethean mean?: Lethean means of or relating to death or forgetfulness.
What part of speech is lethean?: Lethean is an adjective.
How do you pronounce lethean?: Lethean is pronounced /liːˈθi.ən/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: lethean (page history and authors); Lethean (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Lethean.wav.

Cite this entry: “lethean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lethean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.