psychedelic
/ˈsaɪ.kəˌdɛl.ɪk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.34 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of, containing, generating, or reminiscent of drug-induced altered awareness, distortions of perception, hallucinations, etc.
adj
Of graphics, etc.: having abstract shapes, bright colours, etc., reminiscent of drug-induced distortions of perception or hallucinations.
noun
Any psychoactive substance (such as LSD or psilocybin) which, when consumed, causes perceptual changes (sometimes erratic and uncontrollable), visual hallucination, and altered awareness of the body and mind.
Example Sentences
- "With those drugs has come the psychedelic philosophy, an impassioned belief in the self-revealing, mind-expanding powers of potent weeds and seeds and chemical compounds known to man since prehistory but wholly alien to the rationale of Western society."
- "There was a woman sitting on the edge of his bed. She had coral-orange hair, beryl-blue eyes, arched brows, freckles, a coy smile, a psychedelic labcoat and she was, he suddenly realized, his best friend of over twenty years."
- "I was going to become a three-drug connection to all my friends, psychedelics, hash and pot."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “mind, soul”) + δῆλος (dêlos, “manifest, visible”) + English -ic (prefix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’), coined by the English psychiatrist Humphry Osmond (1917–2004) in a 1956 letter to Aldous Huxley.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ψυχή
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈsaɪ.kəˌdɛl.ɪk/