demoniac

adj, noun — 3 senses

demoniac

adj

UK /dɪˈməʊnɪak/

Etymology From Middle English demoniak et al., from Old French demoniaque, from Late Latin daemoniacus.

1

Possessed or controlled by a demon.

2

Of or pertaining to demons; demonic.

  • How dark may be the hiding of God's face, Or what demoniac forms may seize the helm Of reason...1827, Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Poems, 1827: The Sweetness of Life, page 24:
  • Animal fury and orgiastic licence here whipped themselves to demoniac heights by howls and squawking ecstasies that tore and reverberated through those nighted woods like pestilential tempests from the gulfs of hell.1928 February, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XI, number 2, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, →OCLC:
1 more example
  • There was movement everywhere, screaming, demoniac activity; the old man was coming across the tumbling logs.1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber & Faber, published 2005, page 216:
Derived terms
cacodemoniac, demoniacism

demoniac

noun

Etymology From Middle English demoniak et al., from Old French demoniaque, from Late Latin daemoniacus.

1

Someone who is possessed by a demon.

  • The exorcism was dropped from the second Edwardian Prayer Book, because of its implication that unbaptised infants were demoniacs […].1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 53:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.