sybaritic means of or having the qualities of a sybarite (“a person devoted to luxury and pleasure”); dedicated to excessive comfort and enjoyment; decadent, hedonistic, self-indulgent. It carries an Arena rating of 1685, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, sybaritic ranks #63 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #3,031 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #5,105 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,331 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
sybaritic is pronounced /ˌsɪbəˈɹɪtɪk/.
Why “sybaritic” is a great word
Devoted to or characterized by excessive luxury and sensual pleasure, reminiscent of the inhabitants of ancient Sybaris. From Latin Sybarīticus ('of or pertaining to Sybaris'), from Ancient Greek Συβαρῑτικός (Subarītikós), from Σῠβᾰρῑ́της (Sŭbărī́tēs, 'inhabitant of Sybaris; decadent') + -κός (-kós, 'pertaining to'). The English word is formed from Sybarite + -ic. Unlike 'hedonistic,' which suggests a philosophical or active pursuit of pleasure as life's organizing principle, or 'decadent,' which carries an implicit narrative of moral corrosion, sybaritic is purely about the lavish fact of indulgence itself, indifferent to justification. It is the suffocating sweetness of a room heavy with hothouse orchids, the hollow clink of a melon spoon against Wedgwood at eleven in the morning, and the weary sigh of sinking into a bath already scented and warmed to the precise point of bodily oblivion—the art of making comfort a profound and unquestioned vocation, a condition of such complete satiation that desire drifts into a luxurious stupor.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin Sybarīticus (“of or pertaining to Sybaris or its inhabitants”) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, forming adjectives from nouns). Sybarīticus is derived from Ancient Greek Συβαρῑτικός (Subarītikós), from Σῠβᾰρῑ́της (Sŭbărī́tēs, “(noun) inhabitant of Sybaris; (adjective) decadent; self-indulgent”) (from Σῠ́βᾰρῐς (Sŭ́bărĭs, “Sybaris”) + -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, suffix forming demonyms)) + -κός (-kós, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as Sybarite (“inhabitant of Sybaris”) + -ic. Sybaris, a city of Magna Graecia (the coastal parts of Sicily and southern Italy once colonized by Greek settlers), was known for its wealth and the excesses and hedonism of its inhabitants.
adj
- Of or having the qualities of a sybarite (“a person devoted to luxury and pleasure”); dedicated to excessive comfort and enjoyment; decadent, hedonistic, self-indulgent.
- Of or relating to Sybaris or its inhabitants.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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