ECSTASY


Meaning of ECSTASY in English

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

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.