areopagite means A member of the ancient-Athenian conciliary court of the Areopagus. It carries an Arena rating of 1353, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, areopagite ranks #2,357 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,517 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,678 of 14,410 for Most Ponderous Words, #7,127 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
areopagite is pronounced /æɹiːˈɒpəɡaɪt/.
Why “areopagite” is a great word
A member of the ancient Athenian high council and court that met on the Areopagus hill. From the Middle English *Ariopagite*, from the Latin *arēopagītes*, from the Ancient Greek Ἀρεοπαγίτης (*Areopagítēs*, "member of the Areopagus"), from Ἄρειος πάγος (*Áreios págos*, "Hill of Ares", the Areopagus) + -ίτης (*-ítēs*, "denoting a member or inhabitant"). Unlike an "archon," a more general chief magistrate, or a Spartan "ephor," a magistrate of an entirely different polity, an Areopagite was specifically an elder statesman of this austere Athenian body, vested with the gravity of a supreme court and the mystique of a sacred hill. It evokes the cool marble of the open-air tribunal, the weight of a purple-bordered robe, and the murmured deliberation over cases of murder and impiety—the sound of venerable authority echoing against limestone, older than democracy itself.
Etymology
From the Middle English Ariopagite, Ariopagyte, from the Latin arēopagītes, from the Ancient Greek Ἀρεοπαγίτης (Areopagítēs); equivalent to Areopagus + -ite.
noun
- A member of the ancient-Athenian conciliary court of the Areopagus.“Each year the Athenians elected ten archons from among the rich and noble, and at the end of that year the ten graduated into the Areopagus, where they served for life. […¶] In the year 487/6, however, a new law provided that the archons should be chosen by a procedure ending in a lottery. Henceforth, these officials would be selected by chance and not because of their special qualities of lineage”
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