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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Four years later in Italy, the waterworks went again, as those infernal penalty kicks tripped us up against West Germany in the semifinal.
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Linda Cardellini offers up a killer breakdown to the roaring chorus of the lawn guy’s infernal leaf blower.
Adjective
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It’s been a hellish week across South Florida.
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Others have been wounded, detained by military forces or stuck at sea in hellish conditions.
Adjective
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Some say sulfurous and phenolic, others say straight-up skunky.
-
Rescue teams spent four hours navigating the Hardah Dam crater’s steep, rocky terrain and hot sulfurous lake before divers recovered his body roughly 100 feet below the surface.
Adjective
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People at the most senior levels of the government have no earthly idea what's being discussed inside the White House, inside the Oval Office and the Situation Room.
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The new season will get around to that question, though the alien and earthly plot lines are kept on separate tracks.
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.
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His most recent discoveries, the two tiny Plutonian satellites, were named with the help of a popular vote.
Cite this Entry
“Chthonic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chthonic. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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