different between demon vs demonism

English

Alternative forms

• (now chiefly in reference to the ancient Greek spirit): daimon, daemon, dæmon

Etymology

From Middle English demon, a borrowing from Medieval Latin d?m?n, daem?n (“lar, familiar spirit, guardian spirit”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (daím?n, “dispenser, god, protective spirit”). Doublet of daimon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?di?.m?n/
• Rhymes: -i?m?n
• Homophone: daemon

Noun

demon (plural demons)

1. An evil supernatural spirit.
   1. An evil spirit resident in or working for Hell; a devil. [from 10th c.]
   2. (now chiefly historical) A false god or idol; a Satanic divinity. [from 10th c.]
   3. A very wicked or malevolent person; also (in weakened sense) a mischievous person, especially a child. [from 16th c.]
   4. A source (especially personified) of great evil or wickedness; a destructive feeling or character flaw. [from 17th c.]

      The demon of stupidity haunts me whenever I open my mouth.

   5. (in the plural) A person's fears or anxieties. [from 19th c.]
      • 2013, The Guardian, 21 January:

        After a short spell on an adult psychiatric ward, she decided to find her own way to deal with her demons.

2. A neutral supernatural spirit.
   1. A person's inner spirit or genius; a guiding or creative impulse. [from 14th c.]
      • 1616, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, II.3:

        Oh Anthony […] Thy Dæmon that thy spirit which keepes thee, is Noble, Couragious, high vnmatchable.

      • 2000, Phillip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass:

        “You saw her. And I picked her up,” Lyra said, blushing, because of course it was a gross violation of manners to touch something so private as someone else's dæmon.

   2. (Greek mythology) A tutelary deity or spirit intermediate between the major Olympian gods and mankind, especially a deified hero or the entity which supposedly guided Socrates, telling him what not to do. [from 16th c.]
   3. A spirit not considered to be inherently evil; a (non-Christian) deity or supernatural being. [from 19th c.]
   4. An hypothetical entity with special abilities postulated for the sake of a thought experiment in philosophy or physics.
      • 1874, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, “Kinetic Theory of the Dissipation of Energy” in Nature 9, 441-444:

3. Someone with great strength, passion or skill for a particular activity, pursuit etc.; an enthusiast. [from 19th c.]
4. (Britain, card games) A form of patience (known as Canfield in the US). [from 19th c.]
   • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin 2005, p. 89:

     ‘That's much the best feeling to have.’ She dealt out the first row of ‘demon’.

5. Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genera Notocrypta and Udaspes.

Usage notes

Meanings drawing on the neutral, ancient Greek conception now often distinguish themselves by the variant spellings daimon or daemon.

Synonyms

• (evil spirit): See Thesaurus:demon
• (neutral spirit): genius, tutelary deity, see also Thesaurus:god and Thesaurus:spirit

Hyponyms

• (evil spirit): See Thesaurus:demon
• (theoretical entity): Maxwell's demon

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Emond, monde, moned

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin daemon (“lar, genius, guardian spirit”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (daím?n, “dispenser, god, protective spirit”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?de?.m?n/
• Hyphenation: de?mon

Noun

demon m (plural demonen or demons)

1. genius, lar
2. (uncommon) demon

   Synonyms: demoon, duivel

Finnish

Noun

demon

1. Genitive singular form of demo.

Anagrams

• moden

Latin

Alternative forms

• d?mum

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?de?.mon/, [?d?e?m?n]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?de.mon/, [?d???m?n]

Noun

d?mon m

1. accusative singular of d?mos

Middle English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin d?m?n, daem?n, from Ancient Greek ?????? (daím?n). Doublet of tyme (“time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d???m??n/

Noun

demon (plural demones)

1. demon, devil, malicious spirit
2. (rare) daimon, helpful spirit

Descendants

• English: demon

References

• “d?m?n, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-25.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ?????? (daím?n).

Noun

demon m (definite singular demonen, indefinite plural demoner, definite plural demonene)

1. a demon

Derived terms

• demonisere

Related terms

• demonisk

References

• “demon” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ?????? (daím?n).

Noun

demon m (definite singular demonen, indefinite plural demonar, definite plural demonane)

1. a demon

Derived terms

• demonisere

Related terms

• demonisk

References

• “demon” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin daemon (“lar, genius, guardian spirit”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (daím?n, “dispenser, god, protective spirit”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?.m?n/

Noun

demon m anim

1. demon

Declension

Derived terms

• demoniczny, demonicznie
• demonizowa?
• demonologia

Romanian

Alternative forms

• dimon (regional, Moldova)

Etymology

Borrowed from Greek ???????? (daímonas), partly through the intermediate of (South) Slavic *demon?. Compare also Aromanian demun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?demon]

Noun

demon m (plural demoni)

1. demon
2. (figuratively) a despicable person

Declension

Synonyms

• diavol
• drac

Antonyms

• înger
• sfânt

Related terms

• demonic

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Greek ???????? (daímonas).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?mo?n/
• Hyphenation: de?mon

Noun

dèm?n m (Cyrillic spelling ??????)

1. demon

Declension

Derived terms

• dèm?nsk?

English

Alternative forms

• daemonism
• dæmonism

Etymology

demon +? -ism

Noun

demonism (countable and uncountable, plural demonisms)

1. (uncountable) Belief in, or worship of demons or devils.
   • 1699, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, Of Virtue, and the Belief of a Deity, in An Inquiry Concerning Virtue in Two Discourses, London: A. Bell et al., p. 10,^[1]

     […] if he believes more of the prevalency of an ill designing Principle than of a good one, he is then more a Daemonist than he is a Theist, and may be called a Daemonist from the side to which the balance most inclines. ¶ All these sorts both of Daemonism, Polytheism, Atheism, and Theism, may be mixed […]

   • 1957, Muriel Spark, The Comforters, New York: Avon, 1965, Part 2, Chapter 8, p. 171,^[2]

     It is very much to be doubted if Mervyn Hogarth had ever in his life given more than a passing thought to any black art or occult science. Certainly he was innocent of prolonged interest in, let alone any practice of, diabolism, witchcraft, demonism, or such cult.

2. (uncountable) The quality of being demonic (often figuratively).
   • 1915, Henry James, letter to Evan Charteris dated 22 January, 1915 in Percy Lubbock (ed.), The Letters of Henry James, London: Macmillan, Volume 2, p. 453,^[3]

     What a pitiful horror indeed must that Ypres desolation and desecration be—a baseness of demonism.

   • 1925, Edmund James Banfield, Last Leaves from Dunk Island, Part 1, Chapter 1,^[4]

     What significant illustration of the demonism of the wind does a fallen palm present!

   • 1953, Roland Gelatt, Music Makers: Some Outstanding Musical Performers of Our Day, New York: Knopf, “Sir Thomas Beecham,” p. 31,^[5]

     Almost alone among contemporary conductors, he avoids the path of demonism; he takes music in his stride and does not press it with febrile intensity.

3. (countable) An act or event attributed to demons or devils; an evil act.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 41,^[6]

     All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick.

   • 1919, Thomas Burke, “Chinatown Revisited” in Out and About: A Note-Book of London in War-Time, London: George Allen & Unwin, p. 47,^[7]

     So many boys, so many places have disappeared. Blue Gate Fields, scene of many an Asiatic demonism, is gone.

Anagrams

• medimnos, misnomed

Romanian

Etymology

From French démonisme

Noun

demonism n (uncountable)

1. demonism

Declension