/ek"steuh see/ , n. , pl. ecstasies .
1. rapturous delight.
2. an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.
3. the frenzy of poetic inspiration.
4. mental transport or rapture from the contemplation of divine things.
[ 1350-1400; ME extasie extasis ékstasis displacement, trance, equiv. to ek- EC- + stásis STASIS ]
Syn. 2. delight, bliss, elation. ECSTASY, RAPTURE, TRANSPORT, EXALTATION share a sense of being taken or moved out of one's self or one's normal state, and entering a state of intensified or heightened feeling. ECSTASY suggests an intensification of emotion so powerful as to produce a trancelike dissociation from all but the single overpowering feeling: an ecstasy of rage, grief, love. RAPTURE shares the power of ecstasy but most often refers to an elevated sensation of bliss or delight, either carnal or spiritual: the rapture of first love.
TRANSPORT, somewhat less extreme than either ECSTASY or RAPTURE, implies a strength of feeling that results in expression of some kind: They jumped up and down in a transport of delight. EXALTATION refers to a heady sense of personal well-being so powerful that one is lifted above normal emotional levels and above normal people: wild exaltation at having finally broken the record.