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draconic

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Etymology 1

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From Latin dracō (“dragon”) (stem dracōn-) +‎ -ic.

Adjective

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draconic (comparative more draconic, superlative most draconic)

  1. Relating to or suggestive of dragons.
    Synonym: dragonish
    • 1908, E. Walter Maunder, chapter V, in The Astronomy of the Bible‎[1], New York: Mitchell Kennerley, page 196:
      There are amongst the constellations four great draconic or serpent-like forms.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From Latin Dracō (stem Dracōn-) +‎ -ic,[1] after the Athenian lawmaker Draco, known for making harsh laws.

Adjective

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draconic (comparative more draconic, superlative most draconic)

  1. (rare, dated)[2][3] Very severe or strict; draconian.
    Synonym: draconical
    • 1818, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage‎[2], Canto 3, Stanza 64:
      […] they no land / Doomed to bewail the blasphemy of laws / Making kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause.
    • 1932, Edvard Westermarck, chapter VIII, in Ethical Relativity‎[3], London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, page 248:
      The sexual instinct can hardly be changed by prescriptions; I doubt whether all laws against homosexual intercourse, even the most draconic, have ever been able to extinguish the peculiar desire of anybody born with homosexual tendencies.
    • 1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by Thomas P. Whitney, The Gulag Archipelago, Harper & Row, published 1973, Vol. 2, Part III, pp. 9-10:
      In the first months after the October Revolution Lenin was already demanding "the most decisive, draconic measures to tighten up discipline."
Usage notes
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Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ “Draconic, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ draconic laws, draconian laws at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
  3. ^ The Grammarphobia Blog: A serpentine etymology

Anagrams

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from German drakonisch.

Adjective

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draconic m or n (feminine singular draconică, masculine plural draconici, feminine and neuter plural draconice)

  1. draconian

Declension

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singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative 		indefinite draconic draconică draconici draconice
definite draconicul draconica draconicii draconicele
genitive-
dative 		indefinite draconic draconice draconici draconice
definite draconicului draconicei draconicilor draconicelor
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