Word.ws English Dictionary

troglodytic

troglodytic adjective: of or pertaining to troglodytes, or dwellers in caves.

Adjective

troglodytic (comparative more troglodytic, superlative most troglodytic)

  1. Of or pertaining to troglodytes, or dwellers in caves.
    • Foremost of all, of course, were the sight of the fiery caves and the certainty that some troglodytic race inhabited them.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    troglodytish
  2. Like or befitting a troglodyte; brutish, backwards, etc.
    • ‘There is something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be the old story of Dr. Fell? or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The last, I...1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Search for Mr. Hyde”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 25–26
    • You have my thanks for not closing debate in Community Voices, so that the late but thoughtful and intelligent contributions to a controversy isn't squelched. I've found this usually means clawing one's way through mounds of troglodytic gay male misogyny and an occasional off-the-wall lesbian...1980 December 27, Ray Olson, “Spreading The Word”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 23, page 5

Examples of troglodytic in a sentence

  • Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be the old story of Dr.1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Search for Mr. Hyde”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co....
  • I've found this usually means clawing one's way through mounds of troglodytic gay male misogyny and an occasional off-the-wall lesbian interpretation of gay male sexuality, but it's worth it.1980 December 27, Ray Olson, “Spreading The Word”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 23, page 5:

Synonyms of troglodytic

Forms of troglodytic

comparativemore troglodytic
superlativemost troglodytic
alternative formtrogloditic

Origin of troglodytic

From Latin troglodyticus, Ancient Greek τρωγλοδυτικός (trōglodutikós, “of cave-/hole-dwellers”) from τρωγλοδύτης (trōglodútēs, “cave-/hole-dweller”) from τρώγλη (trṓglē, “hole”) + δύω (dúō, “enter, go into”), equivalent to troglodyte + -ic.

Words formed from troglodytic

Questions about troglodytic

What does troglodytic mean?
Troglodytic means of or pertaining to troglodytes, or dwellers in caves.
How do you use troglodytic in a sentence?
Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be the old story of Dr.
What part of speech is troglodytic?
Troglodytic is an adjective.

Words near troglodytic in the dictionary

  1. trogloditic
  2. troglodytal
  3. troglodyte
  4. troglodytes
  5. troglodytian
  6. troglodytic
  7. troglodytical
  8. troglodytically
  9. troglodytid
  10. troglodytids
  11. troglodytish

Source and license

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