sybaritic
/ˌsɪbəˈɹɪtɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.47 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or having the qualities of a sybarite (“a person devoted to luxury and pleasure”); dedicated to excessive comfort and enjoyment; decadent, hedonistic, self-indulgent.
adj
Of or relating to Sybaris or its inhabitants.
Example Sentences
- "His belly is a Ceſterne of receit, / A grand Confounder of demulcing Meate. / A Sabariticke Sea, a depthleſſe Gulfe, / A ſenceleſſe Vulture, a corroding VVolfe."
- "[S]he, for whom attendant maidens had smoothed the Sybaritic sheet of finest texture, […]"
- "Mike took a slow sybaritic sip. "We do use liquor. A few of us—Saul, myself, Sven, some others—like it. I've learned to let it have just a little effect, then hold it, and gain a euphoric growing-closer much like trance without having to withdraw.""
- "He seeks to work in the arena? […] His is a manly trade; sybaritic Rome, that is becoming effeminate, needs to see muscle at work, recalling more primitive glories."
- "He [David Hershkovits] loves to sleep late, he loves to entertain, he's an amazing cook. He's such a joyful, celebratory, sybaritic person."
- "This last passage of Jamblichuns, where he intimates that Cyclon's conspiracy came quickly after the Sybaritic war, being not only corrupted in original, but most miserably handled in the Latin translation; […]"
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin Sybarīticus (“of or pertaining to Sybaris or its inhabitants”) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, forming adjectives from nouns). Sybarīticus is derived from Ancient Greek Συβαρῑτικός (Subarītikós), from Σῠβᾰρῑ́της (Sŭbărī́tēs, “(noun) inhabitant of Sybaris; (adjective) decadent; self-indulgent”) (from Σῠ́βᾰρῐς (Sŭ́bărĭs, “Sybaris”) + -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, suffix forming demonyms)) + -κός (-kós, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as Sybarite (“inhabitant of Sybaris”) + -ic. Sybaris, a city of Magna Graecia (the coastal parts of Sicily and southern Italy once colonized by Greek settlers), was known for its wealth and the excesses and hedonism of its inhabitants.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌsɪbəˈɹɪtɪk/
- British English: /ˌsɪbəˈɹɪtɪk/
Inflected Forms
more sybaritic (comparative)
most sybaritic (superlative)