variants
also chthonian
as in infernal
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Recent Examples of chthonic
Aeacus, a judge of the dead, and Thanatos, winged daemon of death, are chthonic.
—
Lewis Hyde, Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025
That’s because the Greeks distinguished between Olympian gods, who lived on Mt. Olympus, and chthonic gods, who lived in the underworld.
—Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2025
But Lloyd is less interested in the specifics of either work than in the chthonic rage underneath.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
And no one suffers quite like the True Believer; surrendering to optimism is an invitation for chthonic forces to start doling out a whole lot of emotional rump puntings.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 16 Aug. 2024
Before the backdrop of a magmatic cavern stand three adventurers: a warrior, a mage, and a trickster who, with a roll of the dice, are preparing to defeat a tentacled chthonic beast.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2024
Lewis Hyde, Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025
That’s because the Greeks distinguished between Olympian gods, who lived on Mt. Olympus, and chthonic gods, who lived in the underworld.
—Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2025
But Lloyd is less interested in the specifics of either work than in the chthonic rage underneath.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
And no one suffers quite like the True Believer; surrendering to optimism is an invitation for chthonic forces to start doling out a whole lot of emotional rump puntings.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 16 Aug. 2024
Before the backdrop of a magmatic cavern stand three adventurers: a warrior, a mage, and a trickster who, with a roll of the dice, are preparing to defeat a tentacled chthonic beast.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chthonic
Adjective
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There, the adults mate, and the mass erupts like an infernal, infectious volcano, spewing out eggs.—
Beth Mole,
ArsTechnica,
13 Aug. 2025
-
Roughly once a week, Nick Cave blogs about music, religion, grief, and the infernal state of world affairs through the medium of fan correspondence in his Red Hand Files newsletter.—
Jazz Monroe,
Pitchfork,
29 July 2025
Adjective
-
The stakes are high for exoplanets, too, where a small push in atmosphere, clouds, or volcanism could lock worlds into hellish states.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Sep. 2025
-
The Lost Bus takes us inside the hellish inferno of the 2018 Camp fire that decimated the town of Paradise in Northern California.—
Antonia Blyth,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Ours is a geography of cataclysm: Santa Anas wreak their psychic wrath; the odor of disaster seeps from the street like that sulfurous egg smell of the La Brea Tar Pits.—
John Lopez,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Sep. 2025
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With each gust, the steam shifts direction and envelopes visitors in a sulfurous, opaque mist.—
Kim Kay,
Travel + Leisure,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
As geologists were realizing that earthly timescales were vast, astronomers began to discover that the same applied to the distances of the cosmos.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
9 Sep. 2025
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It was once widely believed throughout Europe that stars produced an ethereal fluid that somehow influenced earthly affairs.—
Martha Barnette
August 6,
Literary Hub,
6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The morning of April 1, 1976, Moore announced on a BBC radio station that at 9:47 am, Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, creating the Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect.—
National Geographic,
National Geographic,
31 Mar. 2016
-
His most recent discoveries, the two tiny Plutonian satellites, were named with the help of a popular vote.—
Nadia Drake,
WIRED,
15 July 2013
Cite this Entry
“Chthonic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chthonic. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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