thiasus means A group of singers and dancers assembled to celebrate the festival of one of the gods. It carries an Arena rating of 1528, earned across 16 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, thiasus ranks #1,141 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #1,562 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,849 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,585 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
Why “thiasus” is a great word
A group of singers and dancers assembled for the ecstatic worship of a deity, especially Dionysus. From the Latin *thiasus*, from the Ancient Greek *thíasos*, a band or company of worshippers, revelers. Unlike a chorus, which is a formal, organized body in a drama, or a procession, which is a ceremonial line of march, a thiasus is defined by its wild, devotional frenzy. It is the percussive thrum of tambourines in a moonlit grove, the humid warmth of bodies moving as one in a possessed, undulating mass, and the collective shout that dissolves the individual into the god—a moving tableau of sacred madness that temporarily disorders the sober world.
Etymology
From Latin, from Ancient Greek θίασος (thíasos).
noun
- A group of singers and dancers assembled to celebrate the festival of one of the gods.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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