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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

draconic en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • /dɹəˈkɑnɪk/ (US)
  • /dɹəˈkɒnɪk/ (UK)
  • (US)
  • /dɹæk-/ (US)
  • (US)
  • (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *derḱ-der. Proto-Hellenic *dérkomai Ancient Greek δέρκομαι (dérkomai) Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn)der. Latin dracō Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English draconic From Latin dracō (“dragon”, stem dracōn-) + English -ic.

Meanings

  1. Relating to or suggestive of dragons.
    • There are amongst the constellations four great draconic or serpent-like forms. 1908, E. Walter Maunder, chapter V, in The Astronomy of the Bible, New York: Mitchell Kennerley, page 196:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most draconic Degree=Sup lexicographic
more draconic Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Deriveds

draconically · draconic chart · draconic month

Synonyms

draconical · draconian · dragony · dragonesque · dragonlike · dragonish · draconine

draconic en · ADJ · etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • /dɹəˈkɑnɪk/ (US)
  • /dɹəˈkɒnɪk/ (UK)
  • (US)
  • /dɹæk-/ (US)
  • (US)
  • (US) audio

Etymology

From Latin Dracō (stem Dracōn-) + -ic, after the Athenian lawmaker Draco, known for making harsh laws.

Meanings

  1. (dated, rare) Very severe or strict; draconian.
    • 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. 1932, Edvard Westermarck, chapter VIII, in Ethical Relativity, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, page 248:
    • In the first months after the October Revolution Lenin was already demanding "the most decisive, draconic measures to tighten up discipline." 1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by Thomas P. Whitney, The Gulag Archipelago, Harper & Row, published 1973, Vol. 2, Part III, pp. 9-10:
    • […] they no land / Doom'd to bewail the blasphemy of laws / Making kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause. 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LXIV, page 37:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
more draconic Degree=Cmp lexicographic
most draconic Degree=Sup lexicographic
Draconic alternative lexicographic

Deriveds

draconically

Synonyms

draconical

wikipedia: Draco (lawgiver)