Pla*ton"ic (?), Pla*ton"ic*al (?), a. [L. Platonicus, Gr. : cf. F. platonique.]

1.

Of or pertaining to Plato, or his philosophy, school, or opinions.

2.

Pure, passionless; nonsexual; philosophical.

Platonic bodies, the five regular geometrical solids; namely, the tetrahedron, hexahedron or cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron. -- Platonic love, a pure, spiritual affection, subsisting between persons of opposite sex, unmixed with carnal desires, and regarding the mind only and its excellences; -- a species of love for which Plato was a warm advocate.<-- = Platonic relation --> -- Platonic year Astron., a period of time determined by the revolution of the equinoxes, or the space of time in which the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect to the equinoxes; -- called also great year. This revolution, which is caused by the precession of the equinoxes, is accomplished in about 26,000 years. Barlow.

 

© Webster 1913.


Pla*ton"ic, n.

A follower of Plato; a Platonist.

 

© Webster 1913.