Circean

English

Alternative forms

• Circæan (obsolete)

Etymology

From Circe +‎ -an.

Adjective

Circean (comparative more Circean, superlative most Circean)

1. Pertaining to Circe, the Greek goddess, who first charmed her victims and then changed them into animals; hence, alluring but dangerous or degrading.
   • 1794, Mary Wollstonecraft, An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution, II.2:

     Is it then surprizing […] that an empty mind should be employed only to vary the pleasures, which emasculated her circean court?

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

     Returned to the château just before it got dark, ate cold meats in Mrs Willems's kitchen. Learnt that J. and her Circean caresses were in Brussels on estate business […]

   • 2016, Robert Henke, Eric Nicholson, Transnational Mobilities in Early Modern Theater, page 130:

     Another set of blinders stems from what might be called the Duessa syndrome: Protestant England associated hypertheatrical women with exotic foreignness, rhetorical display, physical allure, and Circean sexuality.

Derived terms

• Circean poison