psychedelic

[ sahy-ki-del-ik ]

adjective

1. of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair:

   LSD users seek the psychedelic properties of the drug, including heightened sensory experiences.

2. of, relating to, or noting any of various drugs producing this state, such as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin:

   Researchers have long been interested in the potential therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs for humans.

3. characterized by images, sounds, or feelings resembling those experienced while in the altered state produced by psychedelic drugs: The psychedelic designs of music posters in the 60s were inspired by the Art Nouveau movement of the late 1800s.

   Their music had a dreamy psychedelic sound, with gentle guitars and hushed vocals.

   The psychedelic designs of music posters in the 60s were inspired by the Art Nouveau movement of the late 1800s.

noun

1. a psychedelic drug:

   The clinic will start treating patients with ketamine, a psychedelic.

2. Rare. a person who uses such a substance.

psychedelic

/ ˌsaɪkɪˈdɛlɪk /

adjective

1. relating to or denoting new or altered perceptions or sensory experiences, as through the use of hallucinogenic drugs
2. denoting any of the drugs, esp LSD, that produce these effects
3. informal.
   (of painting, fabric design, etc) having the vivid colours and complex patterns popularly associated with the visual effects of psychedelic states

psychedelic

1. A descriptive term for things that produce or are related to hallucinations , especially drugs such as LSD .

Notes

Psychedelic art, most popular during the late 1960s and early 1970s, combines patterns, objects, light, and sound to simulate hallucinatory experiences.

Derived Forms

• ˌpsycheˈdelically, adverb

Other Words From

• psy·che·del·i·cal·ly adverb
• pre·psych·e·del·ic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of psychedelic¹

First recorded in 1956; from psyche + Greek dêl(os) “visible, manifest, evident” + -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of psychedelic¹

C20: from psyche + Greek delos visible

Example Sentences

Amid the corridor’s paintings are psychedelic miniatures, framed like canvases, that respond to visitors’ presence and gestures.

From Washington Post

They’re here for facilitated sessions using psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms.

From Washington Post

When I ask her what I should expect, she tells me that Tayos is “a psychedelic experience.”

From Outside Online

According to the woman, her son told her that the people last seen with Quawan were high on psychedelics and that when her son attempted to enter the car, they told him no because they had recently bleached it.

From Essence.com

Those someones—scientists in the psychiatry department of Johns Hopkins University—are part of the burgeoning field of psychedelic studies.

From Popular-Science

Miller traces his irreverent and subversive streak to a psychedelic experience during the particularly sweltering summer of 1991.

From The Daily Beast

Prior to her marriage, she joined a psychedelic rock band, Hopewell, and toured with the band through Europe for five years.

From The Daily Beast

Then a little consortium of people in the psychedelic community—especially the most credentialed ones—presented their evidence.

From The Daily Beast

The means and approval to research the psychedelic on humans is few and far between.

From The Daily Beast

By the mid-1990s, Kinkade had become to the evangelical movement what Peter Max was to the psychedelic Sixties.

From The Daily Beast

Related Words

• hallucinatory
• kaleidoscopic
• multicolored