pythagoricallyadv.
/ˌpʌɪθəˈɡɒrᵻkli/, /pɪθəˈɡɒrᵻkli/, U.S. /ˌpaɪθəˈɡɔrək(ə)li/, /ˌpɪθəˈɡɔrək(ə)li/ In a Pythagorean manner; according to or in accordance with Pythagorean philosophy or doctrine.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > ancient Greek philosophy > pre-Socratic schools of philosophy > [adverb] > specific schools
pythagorically1588
Pythagoreanly1596
atomically1659
1588 J. Harvey Discoursiue Probl. conc. Prophesies 35 They will seeme..to haue borrowed euen from the mouth of mightie Ioue, or the oracle of wise Apollo himselfe, or Zenocratically, and Pythagorically to haue remained..Instar Sybillæ cuiusdam vaticinantis, furentisque.
1609 Bp. W. Barlow Answer Catholike English-man 198 Pythagorically peremptorie without yeelding reason.
1652 Bastard i. i. 4 Look how Pythagorically he gapes? He's turn'd astronomer!
1683 J. Barnard Theologo-historicus 23 The Soul of St. Augustine (say the Schools) was Pythagorically transfused into the corps of Aquin.
1747 H. Knight Being & Attrib. God iii. 226 Such a creature as man, who, to speak pythagorically, is as the Isosceles between the Isopleuron and Scalaneum.
1932 Mod. Philol. 30 213 Unless the sum of one and one can be considered pythagorically singular.
1958 D. A. Martindale et al. tr. M. Weber Rational & Social Found. Music ii. 27 When theoretical considerations led to the ordering of all tones in the same octave, the result was twelve chromatic tones, defined pythagorically.
1992 A. A. Sismanian in J. Bregman & R. T. Wallis Neoplatonism & Gnosticism 357 The pleromogony being a metaphysical pantheism, governed pythagorically by an Eleatic Nous as metapsychical sun.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adv.1588