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terpsichorean (adjective)
Definition: of or relating to dancing
Pronunciation: terp-sih-kuh-REE-un (Click here to hear the pronunciation of terpsichorean).
Example sentence:
"Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet headed south to Los Angeles Sunday
afternoon after infecting this town with six days of...terpsichorean
frenzy..." (Allan Ulrich, The San Francisco Examiner, August
10, 1987)
More about the word from Merriam-Webster:
In Greek and Roman mythology, Terpsichore
(\terp-SIH-kuh-ree\) was one of the nine muses, those graceful
sister-goddesses who presided over learning and the arts. Terpsichore
was the patron of dance and choral song (and later lyric poetry),
and in artistic representations she is often shown dancing and
holding a lyre. Her name, which earned an enduring place in English
through the adjective "terpsichorean," literally means
"dance-enjoying," from "terpsis," meaning
"enjoyment," and "choros," meaning "dance."
"Choros" is also the source of "choreography"
and "chorus" (those "choruses" in Athenian
drama consisted of dancers as well as singers). The only other
word we know that incorporates "terpsis" is "terpodion,"
an obsolete term for a piano-like musical instrument that was
invented in 1816 but never really caught on.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example
sentence.
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