Stygian

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styg·i·an

also Styg·i·an (stĭj′ē-ən)

adj.

a. Gloomy and dark.

b. Infernal; hellish.

2. Of or relating to the river Styx.

[From Latin Stygius, from Greek Stugios, from Stux, Stug-, Styx.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Stygian

(ˈstɪdʒɪən)

adj

1. (Classical Myth & Legend) of or relating to the river Styx

2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) chiefly literary

a. dark, gloomy, or hellish

b. completely inviolable, as a vow sworn by the river Styx

[C16: from Latin Stygius, from Greek Stugios, from Stux Styx; related to stugein to hate]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Styg•i•an

(ˈstɪdʒ i ən)

adj.

1. of or pertaining to the river Styx or to the underworld of Greek and Roman myth.

2. (often l.c.) dark or gloomy.

3. (often l.c.) infernal; hellish.

[1560–70; < Latin Stygi(us) < Greek Stýgios (adj. derivative of Stýx, s. Styg- Styx) + -an¹]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	Stygian - hellish; "Hence loathed Melancholy.../In Stygian cave forlorn"- Milton infernal - being of the underworld; "infernal regions"
	2.	Stygian - dark and dismal as of the rivers Acheron and Styx in Hades; "in the depths of an Acheronian forest"; "upon those roseate lips a Stygian hue"-Wordsworth Acheronian, Acherontic dark - devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black; "sitting in a dark corner"; "a dark day"; "dark shadows"; "dark as the inside of a black cat"

Translations

stigio

Stygian

[ˈstɪdʒɪən] ADJ → estigio

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Stygian

adj (liter) gloom, darkness → stygisch (liter)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

- a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river; And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear?

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My soul, from this strait prison-house set free, As o'er the Stygian lake it floats along, Thy praises singing still shall hold its way, And make the waters of oblivion stay.

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Here and there the brilliant rays penetrated to earth, but for the most part they only served to accentuate the Stygian blackness of the jungle's depths.

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Perhaps Jones might have seen him in that light, and have recollected the passage where the Sibyl, in order to procure an entrance for Aeneas, presents the keeper of the Stygian avenue with such a sop.

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The things which the Stygian darkness hid from my objective eye could not have been half so wonderful as the pictures which my imagination wrought as it conjured to life again the ancient peoples of this dying world and set them once more to the labours, the intrigues, the mysteries and the cruelties which they had practised to make their last stand against the swarming hordes of the dead sea bottoms that had driven them step by step to the uttermost pinnacle of the world where they were now intrenched behind an impenetrable barrier of superstition.

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By striking numerous matches the Belgian at last found what he sought, and when, a moment later, the sickly rays relieved the Stygian darkness about him, he breathed a nervous sigh of relief, for the impenetrable gloom had accentuated the terrors of his situation.

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Tarzan and Sheeta, however, were of a different mind, for neither of them feared the jungle night, and the insistent craving of their hunger sent them off into the Stygian blackness of the forest in search of prey.

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Feeling before him upon the floor with the butt of his spear, Tarzan entered the Stygian gloom.

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A dark goblin seized her, mounted a Stygian stairway, thrust her into a vault with a glimmer of light in its top and muttered the menacing and cabalistic words "Two dollars!"

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Then the ape-man turned and glided into the Stygian darkness of the hut's interior.

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On into the Stygian darkness beyond he urged his craft.

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Thewed like some giant god was Carthoris of Helium, yet in the clutches of these unseen creatures of the pit's Stygian night he was helpless as a frail woman.