hierophant

[ hahy-er-uh-fant, hahy-ruh-, hahy-er-uh- ]

noun
  1. (in ancient Greece) an official expounder of rites of worship and sacrifice.

  2. any interpreter of sacred mysteries or esoteric principles; mystagogue.

Origin of hierophant

1
1670–80; <Late Latin hierophanta<Greek hierophántēs, equivalent to hiero-hiero- + -phántēs, derivative of phaínein to show, make known

Other words from hierophant

  • hi·er·o·phan·tic, adjective
  • hi·er·o·phan·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Words Nearby hierophant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hierophant in a sentence

  • The right hand is upraised and extended, being the reverse of that benediction which is given by the hierophant in the fifth card.

  • He took upon himself to become its hierophant, and to infuse much that was peculiarly his own into it.

    Oscar Wilde | Leonard Cresswell Ingleby
  • The name of the rabbi Akiba is preserved as a type of the hierophant of restored Judaism.

  • He tossed it on the table, and began searching another knocked-out hierophant.

    Temple Trouble | Henry Beam Piper
  • Thus Moses, the perfect hierophant, had this perfect apprehension, and passed from intellectual love to holy adoration.

    Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria | Norman Bentwich

British Dictionary definitions for hierophant

hierophant

/ (ˈhaɪərəˌfænt) /


noun
  1. (in ancient Greece) an official high priest of religious mysteries, esp those of Eleusis

  2. a person who interprets and explains esoteric mysteries

Origin of hierophant

1
C17: from Late Latin hierophanta, from Greek hierophantēs, from hiero- + phainein to reveal

Derived forms of hierophant

  • hierophantic, adjective
  • hierophantically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012