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Definition of "demoniac" [de•mo•ni•ac]

  • Possessed, produced, or influenced by a demon: demoniac creatures. (adjective)
  • Of, resembling, or suggestive of a devil; fiendish: demoniac energy; a demoniacal fit. (adjective)
  • One who is or seems to be possessed by a demon. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "demoniac" in a sentence
  • "He has deemed himself a failure and largely abandoned literature, but Jed's portrait of him captures his bygone intensity—"he appears to be in a trance, possessed by a fury that some have not hesitated to describe as demoniac.""
  • "A more perplexing difficulty arises from his handling of the cases of so-called demoniac possession."
  • "There is in human nature what Goethe used to call a demoniac element, defying all law, and all induction; and we can, I fear, from that one cause, as easily calculate the progress of the human race, as we can calculate that of the vines upon the slopes of AEtna, with the lava ready to boil up and overwhelm them at any and every moment."