WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ec•sta•sy /ˈɛkstəsi/USA pronunciation
n., pl. -sies.
ec•stat•ic•al•ly, adv.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- [uncountable] extreme joyfulness or happiness; rapture.
- [countable] any overpowering emotion;
sudden, intense feeling or excitement.
ec•stat•ic•al•ly, adv.
ec•sta•sy
(ek′stə sē),USA pronunciation n., pl. -sies.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- rapturous delight.
- an overpowering emotion or exaltation;
a state of sudden, intense feeling. - the frenzy of poetic inspiration.
- mental transport or rapture from the contemplation of divine things.
- Greek ékstasis displacement, trance, equivalent. to ek- ec- + stásis stasis
- Medieval Latin extasis
- Middle French
- Middle English extasie 1350–1400
- 2. delight, bliss, elation. Ecstasy, rapture, transport, exaltation share a sense of being taken or moved out of one's self or one's normal state, and entering a state of intensified or heightened feeling. Ecstasy suggests an intensification of emotion so powerful as to produce a trancelike dissociation from all but the single overpowering feeling:an ecstasy of rage, grief, love.Rapture shares the power of ecstasy but most often refers to an elevated sensation of bliss or delight, either carnal or spiritual:the rapture of first love.Transport, somewhat less extreme than either ecstasy or rapture, implies a strength of feeling that results in expression of some kind:They jumped up and down in a transport of delight.Exaltation refers to a heady sense of personal well-being so powerful that one is lifted above normal emotional levels and above normal people:wild exaltation at having finally broken the record.
ec•stat•ic
(ek stat′ik),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
ec•stat′i•cal•ly, adv.
- of, pertaining to, or characterized by ecstasy.
- subject to or in a state of ecstasy;
rapturous.
n.
- a person subject to fits of ecstasy.
- Greek ekstatikós, equivalent. to ek- ec- + statikós static. See ecstasy
- Medieval Latin ecstaticus
- Middle French extatique)
- (1620–30
'ecstatically' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):