psychedelic
English · Thesaurus
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psychedelic
- /ˈsaɪ.kəˌdɛl.ɪk/ UK
- /ˈsaɪ.kɪˌdɛl.ɪk/ UK
Rhymes with -ɛlɪk
Where it comes from
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.
adjective more psychedelic · most psychedelic
- Of, containing, generating, or reminiscent of drug-induced altered awareness, distortions of perception, hallucinations, etc. With those drugs has come the psychedelic philosophy, an impassioned belief in the self-revealing, mind-expanding powers of potent weeds and seeds and chemical compounds known to man since prehistory but wholly alien to the rationale of Western society.
-
Of graphics, etc.: having abstract shapes, bright colours, etc., reminiscent of drug-induced distortions of perception or hallucinations.
There was a woman sitting on the edge of his bed. She had coral-orange hair, beryl-blue eyes, arched brows, freckles, a coy smile, a psychedelic labcoat and she was, he suddenly realized, his best friend of over twenty years.
Similar: multi-coloured
- Awesome, cool, groovy.
noun psychedelics
- Any psychoactive substance (such as LSD or psilocybin) which, when consumed, causes perceptual changes (sometimes erratic and uncontrollable), visual hallucination, and altered awareness of the body and mind. I was going to become a three-drug connection to all my friends, psychedelics, hash and pot.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: colorful, colourful, agitated, psychoactive, psychotropic, neopsychedelic, hallucinatory, hallucinational, hallucinotic, hallucinative, hypnodelic, psycholytic, psychotic, pseudohallucinatory, cyberdelic, entheogenic
Translations
Every language
adj of, containing or generating hallucinations, etc.
| Español | psicodélico |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 迷幻 míhuàn |
| Português | psicodélico |
| Français | psychédélique |
| Deutsch | psychedelisch, bewusstseinserweiternd |
| Italiano | psichedelico |
| Ελληνικά | ψυχοδηλωτικός psychodilotikós, ψυχεδελικός psychedelikós |
| Română | psihedelic |
| Русский | психодели́чный psixodelíčnyj, психодели́ческий psixodelíčeskij |
| עברית | פְּסִיכֶדֶלִי psichedéli |
noun psychoactive substance
| Français | psychédélique |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Psychedelikum |
| Русский | психоде́лик psixodélik |
Talk about this word "psychedelic." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/psychedelic. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. psychedelic. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/psychedelic "psychedelic." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/psychedelic.Cite this
@misc{psychedelic_2026,
title = {psychedelic},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/psychedelic},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
