ecstasy

Meaning

Noun

1. Intense pleasure.
2. A state of emotion so intense that a person is carried beyond rational thought and self-control.
3. A trance, frenzy, or rapture associated with mystic or prophetic exaltation.
4. (obsolete) Violent emotion or distraction of mind; excessive grief from anxiety; insanity; madness.
5. (slang) The drug MDMA, a synthetic entactogen of the methylenedioxyphenethylamine family, especially in a tablet form.
6. A state in which sensibility, voluntary motion, and (largely) mental power are suspended, and the body is erect and inflexible.

Verb

1. To experience intense pleasure.
2. To cause intense pleasure in.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɛk.stə.si/

Etymology

From Old French estaise (“ecstasy, rapture”), from Latin ecstasis, from Ancient Greek ἔκστασις (ékstasis), from ἐξίστημι (exístēmi, “I displace”), from ἐκ (ek, “out”) and ἵστημι (hístēmi, “I stand”).