# demon

Pronunciation: US say "DEE-muhn" /ˈdi.mən/; UK

## Noun

1. An evil spirit, especially one believed to serve the Devil or to torment or possess people; historically also a god or idol regarded as such a spirit.
   - Simple: An evil spirit, or a god or idol that people believed was evil.
   - _Medieval paintings often depict demons tormenting the damned._
   - _The priest claimed a demon had taken hold of the troubled man._
2. A persistent fear, problem, or destructive feeling that torments a person, often pictured as something to fight.
   - Simple: A strong bad feeling or problem inside a person, like fear or anger, that troubles them for a long time.
   - _He battled his demons quietly for years before asking for help._
   - _Addiction left her with a demon that whispered doubt at every turn._
3. A spirit or lesser god not regarded as evil, such as the guiding spirit of ancient Greek belief that stood between gods and humans.
   - Simple: A spirit or god that is not evil, such as one that people in ancient Greece believed guided a person.
   - _In the old folktale, a forest demon helps a lost child find her way home._
   - _In several traditions a household demon watches over the family rather than harming it._
4. A person of great wickedness or malice, or, more mildly, a mischievous one, especially a child.
   - Simple: A very cruel person, or, more gently, a child who behaves badly.
   - _History remembers the dictator as a demon who showed no mercy._
   - _Their youngest is a little demon who never sits still._
5. A person with exceptional strength, passion, or skill in a particular activity; an enthusiast.
   - Simple: A person who is very good at something or does it with great energy.
   - _Their drummer is a demon behind the kit, never missing a beat._
   - _As a chess player she's a demon, calculating ten moves ahead._
6. A hypothetical being with special abilities, imagined to explore an idea in a philosophical or physical thought experiment.
   - Simple: An imaginary being with special powers, used to test an idea in science or philosophy.
   - _Maxwell's thought experiment features a demon that opens a tiny door to separate hot and cold molecules._
   - _Descartes imagined a deceiving demon to question whether anything could be known for certain._
7. The inner spirit or genius that drives someone, guiding them or prompting their creativity.
   - Simple: An inner force that guides someone or sparks their creative ideas.
   - _The poet credited a restless demon for his sudden bursts of inspiration._
   - _A creative demon seemed to guide every brushstroke she made._
8. A type of patience or solitaire card game, played by one person, known in the UK and the US.
   - Simple: A kind of card game you play alone to build cards into order.
   - _On rainy afternoons my grandmother would play demon for hours._
   - _A single game of demon rarely comes out, which is part of its appeal._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Any of several closely related skipper butterflies of tropical Asia and Australasia known as demons, such as those of the genus Notocrypta and the grass demon (Ancistroides folus).
- (noun) In physics, a neutral collective excitation in a metal, in which electrons in different energy bands move out of phase; the name joins distinct electron motion (D.E.M.) with the particle ending -on.

## Origin

The Ancient Greek word daímōn, meaning "dispenser, god, protective spirit," passed into Medieval Latin as dēmōn or daemōn, a "guardian or familiar spirit," and Middle English borrowed it as demon. Daimon is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/demon (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).