Dictionary

seraphic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /səˈɹæf.ɪk/

Etymology

From Medieval Latin seraphicus, from Late Latin seraphīm, seraphīn, from Hebrew שָׂרָף (saráf, “seraph”). By surface analysis, seraph + -ic.

Meanings

1. Of or relating to a seraph or the seraphim.
   • Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld / Th’ imperial Enſign, which full high advanc’t / Shon like a Meteor ſtreaming to the Wind / With Gemms and Golden luſtre rich imblaz’d, / Seraphic arms and Trophies : all the while / Sonorous metal blowing Martial ſounds[…] 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 536–539:
   • the Seraphic Doctor
   • Ye Hoſts that to his Courts belong, / Cherubic Quires, Seraphic Flames, / Awake the everlaſting Song. 1739, John Wesley, “God’s Greatness”, in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 4th edition, Bristol: Felix Farley (1743), page 108
2. Pure and sublime; angelic.
   • Then, Mr Brass left off writing entirely, and, with his pen in his hand, hummed his very loudest; shaking his head meanwhile from side to side, like a man whose whole soul was in the music, and smiling in a manner quite seraphic. 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter number or name)”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:
   • A thousand times he was like to have denyed all, but durst not defame the most sacred Idol of his Soul: Sometimes he thought his Uncle would be generous, and think it fit to give him Silvia; but that Thought was too Seraphick to remain a Moment in his Heart. 1684, Aphra Behn, Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister, London: Randal Taylor, pages 90–91:
   • To my left was the devil herself: Blythe McKinley, inked Aussie bombshell, […] On my right, her seraphic opposite: Ellis Carraway, androgynous redhead, […] shy and sweet, blossoming only when she could nerd out over something. 2017, Elliot Wake, Bad Boy, page 5:
   • She had a seraphic smile on her face. 1958, T. H. White, chapter 5, in The Once and Future King, London: Collins, published 1959:
   • Their passion seems to have been of the seraphic kind. She devoted herself to religion, and persuaded him to do the same. 1782, Thomas Pennant, The Journey from Chester to London, London: B. White, Part 2, p. 407:
   • a seraphic smile
   • So instead of Tesfaye’s seraphic warble, Hanley offers earthier, gruffer tones: you get the impression, considering the casual sexism and more conventional machismo on display here, that the rarefied, stylised and feminised would be unacceptable in his world. 2012 January 25, Paul Lester, “Schoolboy Q (No 1,193)”, in The Guardian:
   • Too white, for the flower of life is red; Her flesh was the soft, seraphic screen Of a soul that is meant (her parents said) To just see earth, and hardly be seen, And blossom in Heaven instead. 1864, Robert Browning, “Gold Hair”, in Dramatis Personæ, London: Chapman & Hall, page 27:

Forms

Deriveds

unseraphic · seraphically · seraphicness

Synonyms

cherublike · cherubic · angelly · seraphic · angellike · angelic · cherubical · angelical · archangelic · cherubic · angelical

Translations (7)

it serafico (relating to the seraphim) · pt seráfico (relating to the seraphim) · bg ангелски (pure and sublime) · pt seráfico (pure and sublime) · pl seraficki (relating to the seraphim) · pl seraficzny (relating to the seraphim) · fr séraphique (relating to the seraphim)