# sybaritic
## English
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Sybarīticus (“of or pertaining to Sybaris or its inhabitants”) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, forming adjectives from nouns). Sybarīticus is derived from Ancient Greek Συβαρῑτικός (Subarītikós), from Σῠβᾰρῑ́της (Subarī́tēs, “(noun) inhabitant of Sybaris; (adjective) decadent; self-indulgent”) (from Σῠ́βᾰρῐς (Súbaris, “Sybaris”) + -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, suffix forming demonyms)) + -κός (-kós, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as Sybarite (“inhabitant of Sybaris”) +‎ -ic. Sybaris, a city of Magna Graecia (the coastal parts of Sicily and southern Italy once colonized by Greek settlers), was known for its wealth and the excesses and hedonism of its inhabitants.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌsɪbəˈɹɪtɪk/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˌsɪbəˈɹɪtɪk/, [-ɾɪk]
* Rhymes: -ɪtɪk
* Hyphenation: sy‧bar‧it‧ic

### Adjective

sybaritic (comparative more sybaritic, superlative most sybaritic)
* Of or having the qualities of a sybarite (“a person devoted to luxury and pleasure”); dedicated to excessive comfort and enjoyment; decadent, hedonistic, self-indulgent.
    Synonyms: epicurean, lotus-eating, sybarite, (archaic) sybaritical; see also Thesaurus:hedonistic
** 1619, Henry Hutton, Follie’s Anatomie. Or Satyres and Satyricall Epigrams with a Compendious History of Ixion’s Wheele. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Mathew Walbanke, […], →OCLC, signature B4, verso:His belly is a Ceſterne of receit, / A grand Confounder of demulcing Meate. / A Sabariticke Sea, a depthleſſe Gulfe, / A ſenceleſſe Vulture, a corroding VVolfe.Republished with modernized spelling in Henry Hutton (1842 September) Edward F[rancis] Rimbault, editor, Follie’s Anatomie: Or Satyres & Satyricall Epigrams […], London: […] [T. Richards] for the Percy Society, →OCLC, page 22.
** 1840, F[rederick] M[arryat], “How to Write a Romance”, in Olla Podrida. […], volume III, London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 252:[S]he, for whom attendant maidens had smoothed the Sybaritic sheet of finest texture, […]
** 1961, Robert A. Heinlein, chapter XXXVI, in Stranger in a Strange Land, New York: Avon, →OCLC, page 392:Mike took a slow sybaritic sip. "We do use liquor. A few of us—Saul, myself, Sven, some others—like it. I've learned to let it have just a little effect, then hold it, and gain a euphoric growing-closer much like trance without having to withdraw."
** 1985 September 1, Anthony Burgess, chapter 2, in The Kingdom of the Wicked, London: Allison & Busby, published 2009, →ISBN, page 168:He seeks to work in the arena? […] His is a manly trade; sybaritic Rome, that is becoming effeminate, needs to see muscle at work, recalling more primitive glories.
** 2017 October 16, Alexandra Schwartz, quoting Jennifer Egan, “Jennifer Egan’s Travels Through Time”, in The New Yorker‎, New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-16:He [David Hershkovits] loves to sleep late, he loves to entertain, he's an amazing cook. He's such a joyful, celebratory, sybaritic person.

#### Alternative forms

* Sybaritic

#### Derived terms

* sybaritically

#### Related terms

* sybarite
* sybaritical
* sybaritism

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ “sybaritic, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2022.
* ↑ “Sybaritic, adj.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.

### Further reading

* Sybaris on Wikipedia.Wikipedia