Definition of DEMIURGE

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In the Platonic school of philosophy, the Demiurge is a deity who fashions the physical world in the light of eternal ideas. In the Timaeus, Plato credits the Demiurge with taking preexisting materials of chaos and arranging them in accordance with the models of eternal forms. Nowadays the word demiurge can refer to the individual or group chiefly responsible for a creative idea, as in "the demiurge behind the new hit TV show." Demiurge derives via Late Latin from Greek dēmiourgos, meaning "artisan" or "one with special skill." The "demi-" part of the word comes from the Greek noun dēmos, meaning "people;" the second part comes from the word for worker, "ergon."

Examples of demiurge in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the eighties, when Americans needed to see hustlers on the make treated as demiurges, Tom Cruise was like Michael Ovitz was like Michael Milken. — Stephen Metcalf, The New Yorker, "How Superheroes Made Movie Stars Expendable," 19 May 2018

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History and Etymology for demiurge

borrowed from Late Latin dēmiurgus, borrowed from Greek dēmiourgós, literally, "master of a craft, artisan" (Homeric dēmioergós "one skilled in an art or craft that benefits the community"), contraction of *dēmioworgos, from dḗmios "of the people, public" (adjective derivative of dêmos "people") + *-worgos, ablaut derivative of Indo-European *u̯erǵ- "make, bring about" (whence, as a nominal derivative, Greek érgon "work") — more at demo-, work entry 1

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