Extasies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

  1. The state of intense joy that is often overwhelming or euphoric
  2. A feeling that is characterized by an elevated sense of happiness or blissfulness
  3. An experience marked by profound emotional delight that can be both exhilarating and consuming

Etymology: The plural form you’ve provided, "extasies," appears to be an older or variant spelling of the modern English "ecstasies," which itself is the plural of "ecstasy." This term traces back to the Greek word "ekstasis," meaning "a standing outside oneself," derived from "ek-" (out) and "stasis" (a standing, a state). The original Greek described a state of being beside oneself, often in a trance or rapture, capturing the idea of intense emotional or spiritual experience. Adopted into Latin as "ecstasis," the word made its way into Middle English through Old French influences, appearing in spiritual and poetic contexts as early as the 14th century. Early English texts sometimes spelled it with a "t" instead of the modern "c," reflecting the fluid spelling conventions before standardization. The form "extasy" or "extasie" was common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the plural "extasies" followed naturally as the plural form in those periods. The shift from the original Greek emphasis on a trance-like, out-of-body state to the broader modern sense of overwhelming joy, rapture, or intense pleasure happened gradually as the term filtered through Christian mystical writings and later secular poetry. The word came to encompass not just spiritual experiences but any overwhelming feeling of delight or ecstasy. The spelling eventually settled on "ecstasy" in the 18th century, but older texts and some poetic uses retained the "extasy" variant for stylistic or etymological reasons. Thus, "extasies" represents a historical snapshot of the word’s journey through English, embodying both the linguistic shifts and the cultural expansion of its meaning from spiritual trance to ecstatic joy.

Synonyms: ecstasies, raptures, joys, delights, bliss

Antonyms: misery, sorrow, sadness, despair, grief