variants
also chthonian
as in infernal
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Recent Examples of chthonic
As for the chthonic powers who might intrude upon us, the worst must be the Titans, primeval offspring of Gaia and Uranus, Earth and Sky.
—
Lewis Hyde, Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025
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
Like the first game, Hades II puts you in the role of a child of Hades who, with the aid of their extended family of Olympic gods, chthonic figures, and lesser deities, must face a never-ending gauntlet to escape the realm to which they’re bound.
—Nikki McCann Ramirez, Rolling Stone, 9 May 2024
Hades and Persephone are chthonic deities, and the word can also be used more poetically to describe something dark and deathly, with a sinister power.
—Frances Vinall, Washington Post, 2 June 2023
Lewis Hyde, Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025
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
Like the first game, Hades II puts you in the role of a child of Hades who, with the aid of their extended family of Olympic gods, chthonic figures, and lesser deities, must face a never-ending gauntlet to escape the realm to which they’re bound.
—Nikki McCann Ramirez, Rolling Stone, 9 May 2024
Hades and Persephone are chthonic deities, and the word can also be used more poetically to describe something dark and deathly, with a sinister power.
—Frances Vinall, Washington Post, 2 June 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chthonic
Adjective
-
On Wednesday, New York HUT levels were up nearly 10% compared to the previous week, when the air didn’t feel (and smell) like some sort of infernal fish chowder.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
27 June 2025
-
Climbing 18,000 feet, through knee-deep snow in some years, and descending more than 23,000 feet into infernal canyons with temps bubbling up to 120 degrees, WSER isn’t a feat for mere mortals.—
Miriam Schwartz,
Boston Herald,
25 June 2025
Adjective
-
Picture those Void rooms: this very kind of hellish place where all angles are skewed and the different gravity rooms are glued to each other in the middle of black nothingness.—
Chris Lee,
Vulture,
6 May 2025
-
This theory dovetails neatly with several observations, including ones showing a roughly uniform distribution of Io’s volcanoes, which seem to be tapping the same omnipresent, hellish source of melt.—
Robin Andrews,
Wired News,
15 June 2025
Adjective
-
The team used soda pulping as one part of the process—boiling the raw material in lye as opposed to the sulfurous byproducts found in traditional (kraft) pulping—to make manufacturing more sustainable.—
Alexandra Harrell,
Sourcing Journal,
3 Sep. 2019
-
The large red ring is sulfurous fallout from the plume of the Pele volcano.—
Robin Andrews,
Wired News,
15 June 2025
Adjective
-
The moon is not the only thing that can shorten earthly days.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
9 July 2025
-
For those in the New Apostolic Reformation, these flags symbolize the belief that when all earthly authority fails, people have the right to appeal directly to God’s authority to justify resistance.—
Art Jipson,
The Conversation,
8 July 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 18 Jul. 2025.
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