demon

noun

de·mon | \ ˈdē-mən

variants: or daemon

plural demons

Definition of demon

1a : an evil spirit angels and demons

b : a source or agent of evil, harm, distress, or ruin the demons of drug and alcohol addiction confronting the demons of his childhood

2 usually daemon : an attendant (see attendant entry 2 sense 1) power or spirit : genius

3 usually daemon, mythology : a supernatural being whose nature is intermediate between that of a god and that of a human being

4 : one that has exceptional enthusiasm, drive, or effectiveness a demon for work Doug, putting like a demon, had birdies on the third and sixth …— Fred Tupper

5 daemon : a software program or process that runs in the background A mailer daemon installed on an e-mail system can respond to a piece of incorrectly addressed e-mail by generating an automated message to the sender that the message was undeliverable.— J. D. Biersdorfer

Other Words from demon Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about demon

Keep scrolling for more

Other Words from demon

demonian \ di-ˈmō-nē-ən

\ adjective

demonization \ ˌdē-mə-nə-ˈzā-shən

\ noun

demonize \ ˈdē-mə-ˌnīz

\ transitive verb

Examples of demon in a Sentence

only in rare cases is the ancient rite of exorcism performed to cast out a troublesome demon a man who was finally able to conquer his demons and kick his drug habit

Recent Examples on the Web

Each student made a meat turner, with a sharp, curled tip to hook a steak, a two-pronged fork that resembled demon horns, and a spatula or shovel — along with matching hangers. — Josh Baugh, ExpressNews.com, "In San Antonio, old-world blacksmithing yields new tools," 17 June 2019 The first season dealt with Jessica confronting her (literal) demon and the second with her confronting her origin; the third was their chance to have Jessica confront herself. — Shirley Li, The Atlantic, "The Marvel-Netflix Universe’s Final Hero," 14 June 2019 All three of these elements combined to keep me doing more of what made the 2016 series refresh so fun: bouncing, dashing, blasting, bashing, and ultimately bathing in demons' rainbows of weirdly colored blood and gore. — Sam Machkovech And Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, "The best games, demos, and tech of E3 2019," 14 June 2019 The follow up to 2016’s reboot of the classic 90s first-person shooter, Doom Eternal lets players kill demons in extreme and entertaining ways. — Time, "Missed the E3 News? Here Are the Games and Consoles We're Most Excited About," 11 June 2019 So this will be a heck of a story, if the Blues can shake those demons — and beat Rask, and overcome a team that has been there, done that. — Matt Porter, BostonGlobe.com, "For Game 7, Bruins are counting on their Stanley Cup experience," 11 June 2019 The Stars collected nine hits for the game and were demons on the base paths with four players notching two steals each. — Emmett Hall, sun-sentinel.com, "Plantation Stars shine bright in winning travel baseball title," 6 June 2019 D'Arcy Carden has posted a clip of Kristen Bell in a suspicious demon-like outfit: Jameela Jamil also recently posted a picture of her getting ready to smooch what looks like Eleanor's pet lizard from season 3. — Caroline Picard, Good Housekeeping, "Season 4 of 'The Good Place' Sounds Like It Will Be the Most Righteous One Yet," 3 May 2019 Two factors let the bacteria solutions succeed where demons and microgears don’t. — Quanta Magazine, "Swarming Bacteria Create an ‘Impossible’ Superfluid," 26 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'demon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for demon

Middle English, "evil spirit," borrowed from Late Latin daemōn "evil spirit, pagan deity, idol," going back to Latin, "supernatural being, spirit intermediate between humans and gods," borrowed from Greek daimon-, daímōn "superhuman power, variably evil or beneficent, intervening in human affairs, fate" (Homeric), "personal spirit, bringing luck or ill, that accompanies an individual," "spirit intermediate between humans and gods" (Plato), "evil spirit" (New Testament), probably from dai-, stem of daísthetai "to divide, allocate" + -mōn, deverbal noun and adjective suffix — more at tide entry 1

Keep scrolling for more