afflatus
Americannoun
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inspiration; an impelling mental force acting from within.
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divine communication of knowledge.
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of afflatus
1655–65; < Latin afflātus a breathing on, equivalent to af- af- + flā- (stem of flāre to blow 2 ) + -tus suffix of v. action
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The divine afflatus usually lasted a week or two, and then she emerged from her ‘vortex’, hungry, sleepy, cross, or despondent.
From Literature
He enhanced the model with jet travel and a visionary, indefinitely utopian afflatus like that of a Buckminster Fuller or a Marshall McLuhan.
From The New Yorker
At the same, he crucially overrides aspects of Deng’s legacy that might limit his afflatus and sense of mission.”
From New York Times
There, the Hagen never let the afflatus of passion overrule the printed markings in the music; if Brahms wrote “piano,” the playing stayed soft, no matter how amorous the feeling.
From Washington Post
But he was impelled throughout with the afflatus of Dvorak’s earthy genius and made the BSO sound like one of the prestigious European orchestras visiting the Kennedy Center.
From Washington Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
