ecstasy
Americannoun
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(often plural) a state of exalted delight, joy, etc; rapture
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intense emotion of any kind
an ecstasy of rage
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psychol overpowering emotion characterized by loss of self-control and sometimes a temporary loss of consciousness: often associated with orgasm, religious mysticism, and the use of certain drugs
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archaic a state of prophetic inspiration, esp of poetic rapture
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slang 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine; MDMA: a powerful drug that acts as a stimulant and can produce hallucinations
Related Words
Ecstasy, rapture, transport, exaltation share a sense of being taken or moved out of one's self or one's normal state, and entering a state of intensified or heightened feeling. Ecstasy suggests an intensification of emotion so powerful as to produce a trancelike dissociation from all but the single overpowering feeling: an ecstasy of rage, grief, love. Rapture shares the power of ecstasy but most often refers to an elevated sensation of bliss or delight, either carnal or spiritual: the rapture of first love. Transport, somewhat less extreme than either ecstasy or rapture, implies a strength of feeling that results in expression of some kind: They jumped up and down in a transport of delight. Exaltation refers to a heady sense of personal well-being so powerful that one is lifted above normal emotional levels and above normal people: wild exaltation at having finally broken the record.
Etymology
Origin of ecstasy
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English extasie, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin extasis, from Greek ékstasis “displacement, trance,” equivalent to ek- ec- + stásis stasis
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.
You have avoided great depths of despair and panic, and even greater heights of self-congratulation and ecstasy.
From MarketWatch
They echo Orson Welles’ 1958 thriller “Touch of Evil” while capturing the subject’s tenderness and ecstasy.
From Los Angeles Times
The reporter described Maggie and Kate Fox embracing “upon each other’s necks in an ecstasy of affection and delight at being together once again.”
From Literature
Scotland's lead was 11 - and to the utter ecstasy of the home fans, it stayed that way.
From BBC
Even the opening credits, some written in slithering hair, seem to tremble out of either fear or ecstasy.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
