hermetic
adjective
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Hermetic Has Origins in Greek Mythology
Hermetic derives from Greek via the Medieval Latin word hermeticus. When it first entered English in the early 17th century, hermetic was associated with writings attributed to Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. Thoth, whom the Greeks called Hermes Trismegistus ("thrice-great Hermes"), was believed to be the author of a number of mystical, philosophical, and alchemistic works. The obscure subject matter of these works may have made them difficult to wade through, for soon English speakers were also applying hermetic to things that were beyond ordinary human comprehension. Additionally, Hermes Trismegistus was said to have invented a magic seal that could keep vessels airtight. Hermetic thus came to mean "airtight," both literally and figuratively. These days, it can also sometimes mean "solitary."
Examples of hermetic in a Sentence
Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2025
Despite appearances to the contrary—the swirling sentences, the feverish intellection—there is nothing hermetic about Krasznahorkai’s work, both old and new, which squarely faces contemporary European reality and its perils, including the tortured dynamics of settlement, movement, and identity.
—James Wood, New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2025
On Ohio Players, the often hermetic duo brought in collaborators like Beck, Dan the Automator, and Noel Gallagher to add some new flavors to their signature high-definition garage-rock.
—Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025
But the sound is less hermetic, more emotionally forward, rooted in the physical now.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 9 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for hermetic
Cite this Entry
“Hermetic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hermetic. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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