I. |bizən|tēn also -|tīn sometimes |bīz-; ˈbizəntə̇n; bə̇ˈzanˌtēn, -zaanˌ-, also -ˌtīn, -_tə̇n sometimes bīˈz- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Late Latin Byzantinus native of Byzantium, from Byzantium + Latin -inus -ine
1. : bezant
2. usually capitalized : a native or inhabitant of the ancient city of Byzantium
II. adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: Late Latin Byzantinus, adjective & noun
1.
a. : of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient city of Byzantium
b. : of, relating to, or characteristic of the Eastern Roman Empire
2.
a. : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in the Byzantine Empire especially in the 5th and 6th centuries and having as its central structural feature the dome carried on pendentives over a square and as its chief decorative feature the incrustation of walls, vault faces, and spandrels with marble veneering and with richly colored mosaic on grounds of gold
b. : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a school of painting that originated in the Byzantine Empire, was influential until the 14th century throughout western Europe especially in Italy, and survived until recent times especially in Bulgaria and Russia and that was characterized by formality of design, by absence of shadow and of the appearance of relief, and by the free use of gilding in the background
3. : of or relating to the Eastern Orthodox Church
Byzantine monks
the Byzantine rite
4. : of, relating to, or marked by Byzantinism
III. adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
1. : of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation
the government, with its own Byzantine sources of intelligence — Wesley Pruden
2. : intricately involved : labyrinthine
searching in the Byzantine complexity of the record — B.L.Collier