ENGLISH
REFERENCE

psychedelic

adj.
C1 Advanced US //ˌsaɪkəˈdɛɫɪk// UK //sˌaɪkɪdˈɛlɪk// psy·che·del·ic

adj. describing things with bright colors, strange patterns, or sounds that make you feel like you are in a dream. It often refers to art or music that feels very trippy or unusual.

adj. relating to or denoting drugs that produce hallucinations and apparent expansion of consciousness. Often describes visual or auditory styles characterized by distorted shapes and vivid, saturated colors.


SIMPLE

The band played music with a psychedelic sound.

CONTEXTUAL

The walls of the club were covered in psychedelic posters that seemed to glow under the purple lights.

COMPLEX

The film's psychedelic sequence uses rapid editing and kaleidoscopic imagery to represent the protagonist's fractured state of mind during the experiment.

Origin

From Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “mind, soul”) + δῆλος (dêlos, “manifest, visible”) + English -ic (prefix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’), coined by the English psychiatrist Humphry Osmond (1917–2004) in a 1956 letter to Aldous Huxley.

Usage

Typically used attributively before a noun; can describe both chemical substances and aesthetic styles.

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