in sense 1 |dīə|nisēən, in sense 2 -nizhən or -nishən or -nīsēən adjective
Etymology: in sense 1, from Dionysius (personal name) + English -an; in sense 2, from Latin Dionysia + English -an
1. usually capitalized
a.
[ Dionysius the Elder died 367 B.C. Greek tyrant and his son Dionysius the Younger fl 345 B.C. Greek tyrant]
: of or relating to the elder or the younger Dionysius
Dionysian cruelty
b.
[ Dionysius Exiguus, 6th century Roman monk and scholar born in Scythia who introduced the method of reckoning the Christian era from the supposed date of the birth of Christ]
: of or relating to Dionysius Exiguus
the dionysian period of 532 years after which the moon's changes recur on the same days of the week and month
c.
[ Dionysius the Areopagite fl A.D. 500 Greek author of The Celestial Hierarchy and other Neoplatonic Christian works that greatly influenced medieval thought]
: of or relating to Dionysius the Areopagite
2.
a. usually capitalized : devoted to the worship of the god Dionysus or connected with the Dionysia : dionysiac 1
the Eleusinian, the Dionysian, and the Orphic rites were the most important mystery religions of Greece — G.E.Mylonas
the most radical departure from the rationalistic interpretation of life and history is to be found in the Dionysian religious tradition — Reinhold Niebuhr
b. usually capitalized
[translation of German dionysisch ]
: of a character symbolized by the god Dionysus or the cult of his myth and worship:
(1) : of a sensuous, frenzied, orgiastic, or Bacchic character : unbounded, lawless, or irrational in nature — contrasted with Apollonian
Nietzsche had used the terms Dionysian and Apollonian to separate the creative-passionate from the critical-rational — J.M.Barzun
the Dionysian experience, our ecstatic participation in the divine life — Sheldon Cheney
(2) : pregnant with strength : creatively striving : passionate : faustian
the unleashed fury of Dionysian dynamics — C.H.Cardinal