draconic
See also: Draconic
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /dɹəˈkɒnɪk/
- (US) IPA(key): /dɹəˈkɑnɪk/, /dɹæk-/, (sometimes) /-ˈkoʊnɪk/; (uncommon; especially for etymology 2, "severe") (US) /dɹeɪˈkɑnɪk/
Audio (US): (file)
Etymology 1
From Latin dracō (“dragon”, stem dracōn-) + -ic.
Adjective
draconic (comparative more draconic, superlative most draconic)
- Relating to or suggestive of dragons.
- Synonyms: draconical, dragonish
- 1908, E. Walter Maunder, chapter V, in The Astronomy of the Bible[1], New York: Mitchell Kennerley, page 196:
- There are amongst the constellations four great draconic or serpent-like forms.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
From Latin Dracō (stem Dracōn-) + -ic,[1] after the Athenian lawmaker Draco, known for making harsh laws.
Alternative forms
Adjective
draconic (comparative more draconic, superlative most draconic)
- (rare, dated)[2][3] Very severe or strict; draconian.
- Synonym: draconical
- 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LXIV, page 37:
- […] they no land / Doom'd to bewail the blasphemy of laws / Making kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause.
- 1932, Edvard Westermarck, chapter VIII, in Ethical Relativity[2], London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, page 248:
- The sexual instinct can hardly be changed by prescriptions; I doubt whether all laws against homosexual intercourse, even the most draconic, have ever been able to extinguish the peculiar desire of anybody born with homosexual tendencies.
- 1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by Thomas P. Whitney, The Gulag Archipelago, Harper & Row, published 1973, Vol. 2, Part III, pp. 9-10:
- In the first months after the October Revolution Lenin was already demanding "the most decisive, draconic measures to tighten up discipline."
Usage notes
- Superseded by draconian.
Derived terms
References
- ^ “Draconic, adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- ^ draconic laws, draconian laws at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
- ^ The Grammarphobia Blog: A serpentine etymology
Anagrams
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from German drakonisch.
Adjective
draconic m or n (feminine singular draconică, masculine plural draconici, feminine and neuter plural draconice)
Declension
singular | plural | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
nominative- accusative |
indefinite | draconic | draconică | draconici | draconice | |||
definite | draconicul | draconica | draconicii | draconicele | ||||
genitive- dative |
indefinite | draconic | draconice | draconici | draconice | |||
definite | draconicului | draconicei | draconicilor | draconicelor |