Agapemone
English
Etymology
Irregular formation from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē, “love”) and μονή (monḗ, “abode”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /aɡəˈpiːm(ə)ni/, /aɡəˈpɛm(ə)ni/
Noun
Agapemone (uncountable)
- (now historical) The base of a religious sect established in Sussex by the Rev. Henry James Prince in the mid-19th century, or a successor establishment in London, which were associated with free love and polygamy.
- 2012, Gillian Tindall, "The Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society", Literary Review, 403:
- Four Nottidge sisters fell under the sway of the Agapemone cult, and lived in a commune whose megalomaniac leader forced them to marry his henchmen but forbade consummation of these unions: arguably, they did need rescuing.
- 2012, Gillian Tindall, "The Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society", Literary Review, 403:
- Any community characterised by mutual love or free love.
- 1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades, Penguin 2012 (Parade's End), p. 397:
- This whole war was an agapemone…. You went to war when you desired to rape innumerable women. It was what war was for…. All these men, crowded in this narrow space….
- 1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades, Penguin 2012 (Parade's End), p. 397:
Derived terms
- Agapemonian
- Agapemonist
- Agapemonite
See also
- Abode of Love
- Princeite
Anagrams
- epagomena