deiform

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin deifōrmis (literally “godlike”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdiː.ɪˌfɔː(ɹ)m/, /ˈdeɪ.ɪˌfɔː(ɹ)m/

Adjective

deiform (comparative more deiform, superlative most deiform)

1. Godlike.
   • 1642, H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ [Psychathanasia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Poem of the Immortality of Souls, Especially Mans Soul”, in ΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ [Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the Soul, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie, →OCLC, book 1, canto 2, stanza 47, page 19:

     But that full graſp of vaſt Eternitie / Longs not to beings ſimply vegetive, / Not yet to creatures merely ſenſitive: / Reaſon alone cannot arrive to it. / Onely ſouls Deiform intellective / Unto that height of happineſſe can get; / Yet immortalitie with other ſouls may fit.

2. Conformable to the will of God
   • 1683, John Scott, The Christian Life from Its Beginning to Its Consummation in Glory:

     When our minds shall perceive what a pure imitation of God its life is, and how exactly deiform all its motions and actions are, with what ravishing pleasure will they even review their own motions […]

Derived terms

• deiformity