Make Your Point > Archived Issues > SERAPHIC

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pronounce SERAPHIC: Say it "suh RAFF ick." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: When something shines with celestial glory, you might call it angelic, radiant, beatific, eth___al, or seraphic. Can you recall that word with the blanks? It means "heavenly, otherworldly, as if made up of the mystical matter that surrounds the planets and stars." (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: A seraph ("SAIR uf") is an angel from the Bible, the kind with six wings. More than one seraph are called "seraphim" ("SAIR uh fim"). They're considered the highest-ranking angels, the ones who hover around God's throne. Check out how they're described in Isaiah 6:2: "Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew." Seraphim also show up quite a bit in Milton's 1667 Paradise Lost, where they're always described as bright, fiery, or flaming. So, if you describe something as seraphic, you mean it's angelic in an especially bright, lofty, or high-flying way, like an angel of the highest order. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Adjective: "a seraphic peace," "a seraphic smile." Other forms:  Seraph, seraphim. The adverb is "seraphically," as in "She's seraphically joyous" and "He sung seraphically." An alternate adjective is "seraphical," which is a good pick if you're being sarcastic. "Thanks for the seraphical sermon." how to use it: When you need an extra-emphatic synonym of "angelic" or "heavenly," go for "seraphic." It's a rare word, but graceful and dignified, connoting both holiness and prestige. Especially compared to "cherubic," which also means "angelic" but connotes chubby babies. You might talk about seraphic smiles, songs, singing, music, art, poetry, dance, etc. Or seraphic calm, peace, beauty, glory, delicacy, etc. Here's George Eliot: "Dinah's seraphic gentleness of expression." examples: "She saw the child white in the face... quite beautiful in a blaze of silence... And then suddenly, click went her face into a look of almost seraphic calm."    — Roald Dahl, Matilda, 1988    "I went to see that sister—I saw that sister—I surrendered. That seraphic sister—to attempt a description of her beauty, would be insanity itself."     — Q. K. Philander Doesticks P.B., Doesticks: What He Says, 1856 has this page helped you understand "seraphic"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "seraphic" without saying "angelic" or "glorious." try it out: In that example above from the novel Matilda, the little girl, Matilda, had a look of "seraphic calm" after using her new magic power of telekinesis. I remember feeling the same kind of seraphic calm, or maybe seraphic bliss, when singing in a choir. It's incredible, like floating on a holy cloud. Well, as long as we weren't messing up our parts.  Talk about something that sends you into a seraphic calm, bliss, or daydream. If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for this month is Obits Tidbits! Check out a tidbit from the obituary of an extraordinary person, and see if you can name who it was. To see the answer, scroll all the way down. From the LA Times: "Newly arrived from the Bahamas with a thick West Indian accent, [he] fumbled his lines so badly that he was advised he'd be better off getting a job as a dishwasher... His ascent was meteoric, smashing through the Hollywood color barriers." If you need some hints, highlight the hidden white text below.    This obituary was published on… January 7th, 2011.    This person's initials are… S. P. review this word: 1. Close opposites of SERAPHIC include A. THIN, PALE, and WHITTLED. B. DEMONIC, SATANIC, and INFERNAL. C. HIP, CURRENT, and CONTEMPORARY. 2. Reviewing a new album, a writer for the Guardian described the vocals as "seraphic" and "_____," as if emerging from an "_____." A. beatific .. astral fog B. dark .. undersea cave C. frazzled .. overcrowded train Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. A Answer to the game question: Sidney Poitier. a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.