I. noun
also ec·sta·cy ˈekstəsē, -si
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English extasie, from Middle French, from Late Latin extasis, ecstasis, from Greek ekstasis, from existanai to put out of place, derange, from ex out of, out + histanai to cause to stand — more at ex- , stand
1. : a state of being beyond reason and self-control through intense emotional excitement, pain, or other sensation : obsession by powerful feeling
in an ecstasy of pain — Ludwig Bemelmans
whose eyes kept sweeping in an ecstasy of fear from side to side — Irwin Shaw
2. : a state of exaltation or rapturous delight manifested either demonstratively
sending their shrill, diamond-hard cries of ecstasy streaming across the streets — Kay Cicellis
or in a profound calm or abstraction of mind
a state of quiet ecstasy which illuminated his whole being — E.S.Bates
3. : a trance state in which intense absorption in divine or cosmic matters is accompanied by loss of sense perception and voluntary control
at the sight of a crucifix … she would at once fall into an ecstasy — Norman Douglas
Synonyms:
ecstasy , rapture , and transport agree in designating a feeling or state of intense, often extreme, mental and emotional exaltation. ecstasy in one sense signifies an exalted state resembling a trance in which contemplation of what inspires the exaltation makes one oblivious of all else, and in another sense signifies an overmastering exalting joy or similar intense emotion
this picture of Fra Angelico in a state of religious ecstasy — Time
these were thrilling words, and wound up Catherine's feelings to the highest points of ecstasy — Jane Austen
such a success threw us into a perfect ecstasy of hilarity — Ben Riker
their faces were fixed in a calm ecstasy of malevolence — Elinor Wylie
a drunken ecstasy, compounded of superstition, green, bloodlust, seized upon the hundreds of servitors of the goddess — Maurice Samuel
rapture implies intense bliss or beatitude, sometimes connoting an accompanying ecstasy
he was familiar with the passionate rapture of lovers on the stage, in books, and in pictures — William Black
he put little of this personal rapture of holiness into his published works — P.E.More
continual ups and downs of rapture and depression — Edith Wharton
transport applies to any violent or powerful emotion that lifts one out of oneself and usually provokes vehement expression
thronged about him and embraced and kissed him, with such joy and transport, as he said, that he always looked upon that moment as the happiest of his life — Van Wyck Brooks
a periodical that is weekly moved to transports of delight about contemporary America — Bruce Bliven b.1889
the first transports of love
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
: to fill with ecstasy or rapture : enrapture
the most ecstasied order of holy … spirits — Jeremy Taylor
III. noun
Usage: often capitalized
: a synthetic amphetamine analogue C 11 H 15 NO 2 used illicitly for its mood-enhancing and hallucinogenic properties — called also MDMA