n.
Pronunciation: ' bi-z ə n- ˌ t ē n, ' b ī -, - ˌ t ī n; b ə - ' zan- ˌ , b ī - '
Function: adjective
Date: 1651
1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient city of Byzantium
2 : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in the Byzantine Empire especially in the fifth and sixth centuries featuring the dome carried on pendentives over a square and incrustation with marble veneering and with colored mosaics on grounds of gold
3 : of or relating to the churches using a traditional Greek rite and subject to Eastern canon law
4 often not capitalized a : of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation <a Byzantine power struggle> b : intricately involved : LABYRINTHINE <rules of Byzantine complexity>