hieratic.

1. Relating to priests, priestly institutions, or their ceremonial authority.

2. Marked by a solemn, fixed, or highly conventional form, often suggesting sacred art or ceremonial restraint.

3. Relating to, or naming, the cursive script used in ancient Egypt alongside hieroglyphic writing.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• hieratic authority
• a hieratic role
• hieratic ritual

On the page

The court borrowed a hieratic authority that its laws alone could not provide.

His hieratic role required gestures the visitors did not understand.

Usage notes

Primary category: gothic. Forms: Usually non-gradable for script or priestly relation; more hieratic and most hieratic may describe formality of style. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.