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Byzantine

Syllabification: (Byz·an·tine)
Translate Byzantine | into Italian
Definition of Byzantine

adjective

  • 1of or relating to Byzantium, the Byzantine Empire, or the Eastern Orthodox Church.
  • of an ornate artistic and architectural style that developed in the Byzantine Empire and spread especially to Italy and Russia. The art is generally rich and stylized (as in religious icons) and the architecture typified by many-domed, highly decorated churches.
  • 2 (also byzantine) (of a system or situation) excessively complicated, typically involving a great deal of administrative detail:Byzantine insurance regulations
  • characterized by deviousness or underhanded procedure:Byzantine intrigues he has the most Byzantine mind in politics

noun

  • a citizen of Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire.

Derivatives

Byzantinism

noun

Origin:

late 16th century (denoting a bezant, a Byzantine coin): from Latin Byzantinus, from Byzantium

Byzantine in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of Byzantine in the British & World English dictionary
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