bacchante

[ buh-kan-tee, -kahn-, buh-kant, -kahnt ]

noun

1. a female bacchant.

bacchante

/ bəˈkæntɪ /

noun

1. a priestess or female votary of Bacchus
2. a drunken female reveller

Word History and Origins

Origin of bacchante¹

1790–1800; back formation from Latin bacchantēs, feminine plural of bacchāns bacchant; pronunciation with silent -e < French bacchante, feminine of bacchant bacchant

Example Sentences

It creates a directness and a knowingness that is more sensuous than erotic, even when the subject is a slightly drunken bacchante.

From New York Times

Profane wears a point shoe on one foot while the other foot is bare; her hair falls, like a bacchante’s, down her shoulders.

From New York Times

She looks like a drunken bacchante, or like a mad woman.

From Project Gutenberg

Mathilde resembled an aerial spirit descended in a cloud of moonlit rays; Muse, a bacchante, full of sensuous vitality.

From Project Gutenberg

She had the thoughtful brow and the words of wisdom for one class; the smile of the cupid and the laugh of the bacchante for another.

From Project Gutenberg