Dictionary

Daedalian en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /dɪˈdeɪliən/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English Daedalus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Latin -iānusbor. English -ian English Daedalian From Daedalus + -ian.

Meanings

1. Ingeniously or cunningly designed; artistic, ingenious, intricate, skillful.
   • Hicks is both thwarter and thwartee of Daedalean plots. Aboard a train, the rhythm of the wheels sounds to him like "wottachump, wottachump, wottachump." 2025 October 2, Dwight Garner, “Book Review: 'Shadow Ticket,' by Thomas Pynchon”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Oct 2025:
   • 1812, Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations volume 1, book 2, chapter 2, page 484, published in London by Cadell and Davies "The commerce and industry of the country, ... cannot be altogether so secure when they are thus, as it were, suspended upon the Daedalian wings of paper money as when they travel about upon the solid ground of gold and silver"
2. Difficult to comprehend due to complexity or intricacy.
3. Deceitful, duplicitous.

Forms

Deriveds

daedalia