CELTIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Celtic mean? 

• CELTIC (noun)
  The noun CELTIC has 1 sense:

1. a branch of the Indo-European languages that (judging from inscriptions and place names) was spread widely over Europe in the pre-Christian era

  Familiarity information: CELTIC used as a noun is very rare.

• CELTIC (adjective)
  The adjective CELTIC has 1 sense:

1. relating to or characteristic of the Celts

  Familiarity information: CELTIC used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CELTIC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A branch of the Indo-European languages that (judging from inscriptions and place names) was spread widely over Europe in the pre-Christian era

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Celtic; Celtic language

Hypernyms ("Celtic" is a kind of...):

Indo-European; Indo-European language; Indo-Hittite (the family of languages that by 1000 BC were spoken throughout Europe and in parts of southwestern and southern Asia)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Celtic"):

Erse; Gaelic; Goidelic (any of several related languages of the Celts in Ireland and Scotland)

Brittanic; Brythonic (a southern group of Celtic languages)

Derivation:

Celtic (relating to or characteristic of the Celts)

• CELTIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or characteristic of the Celts

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

Celtic; Gaelic

Pertainym:

Celt (a member of a European people who once occupied Britain and Spain and Gaul prior to Roman times)

Derivation:

Celt (a member of a European people who once occupied Britain and Spain and Gaul prior to Roman times)

Celtic (a branch of the Indo-European languages that (judging from inscriptions and place names) was spread widely over Europe in the pre-Christian era)

 Context examples 

He is also the one among us who is endowed with that Celtic temperament which would make him sensitive to such impressions.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“An’ how is it ye can get men to do anything on God’s earth an’ sea?” Louis demanded with Celtic fire.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And now, my dear Watson, I think we may dismiss the matter from our mind and go back with a clear conscience to the study of those Chaldean roots which are surely to be traced in the Cornish branch of the great Celtic speech.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this passionate Celtic woman’s soul when she saw the man who had wronged her—wronged her, perhaps, far more than we suspected—in her power?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Brachycephalic, gray-eyed, black-haired, with suggestion of the negroid. Celtic, I presume?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)