Word.ws English Dictionary

Orphic

UK/ˈɔːfɪk//ˈɔɹfɪk/

Orphic adjective: of or pertaining to Orphism and its doctrines and rituals.

Adjective

Orphic (comparative more Orphic, superlative most Orphic)

  1. (Greek) Of or pertaining to Orphism and its doctrines and rituals.
    • Orphic ideology mainly concerned the mysteries of Dionysos, which many Greeks took very seriously.2004, Stephanie L. Budin, The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO, page 307
  2. Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding; mystic.
    • […] he intended to be a divine artist, a man of visionary states and enchantments, Platonic possession. He got a Rationalistic, Naturalistic education at CCNY. This was not easily reconciled with the Orphic. But all his desires were contradictory.1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 115
  3. Hypnotic; entrancing.

Noun

Orphic (plural Orphics)

  1. (Greek) A follower of Orphism.
    • In particular, Plato often refers to the “Orphics” and mentions the “Orphic life” (Orphikoi tines legomenoi bioi, Laws 782c). Plato clearly distinguished the Orphics and the Pythagoreans. To speak very generally, the Orphics believed that the soul had a divine beginning but fell from the gods due...2021, Andrea Nightingale, Philosophy and Religion in Plato's Dialogues, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 137

Forms of Orphic

Adjective
comparativemore Orphic
superlativemost Orphic
Noun
pluralOrphics

Origin of Orphic

From Orpheus + -ic.

Words formed from Orphic

Phrases with Orphic

Questions about Orphic

What does Orphic mean?
Orphic means of or pertaining to Orphism and its doctrines and rituals.
What part of speech is Orphic?
Orphic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce Orphic?
Orphic is pronounced /ˈɔːfɪk/ (UK).

Words near Orphic in the dictionary

  1. orpheoreon
  2. orpheoreons
  3. orpherion
  4. orpherions
  5. Orpheus
  6. Orphic
  7. Orphic egg
  8. Orphic eggs
  9. Orphical
  10. Orphically
  11. Orphicism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Orphic (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Orphic.wav.

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