Meaning & use
demotic
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Belonging to the everyday language or style used by ordinary people, rather than formal or learned speech.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: demotic speech, a demotic style.
Patterns
- demotic language
- a demotic style
The politician adopted a demotic tone to seem closer to ordinary voters.
The poet mixed lofty phrases with demotic slang.
The novel is written in lively, demotic English.
adjectivebefore a nounspecialist
Of or relating to a simplified form of ancient Egyptian writing used for everyday documents.
Grammar: Often capitalized in this sense: Demotic script.
Patterns
- demotic script
- demotic writing
The Rosetta Stone carries a text in demotic script.
Scholars studied the demotic papyri to learn about daily life.
Demotic writing was faster than hieroglyphs.
noununcountablespecialist
The everyday spoken form of a language, especially modern Greek, as opposed to the older formal form.
Grammar: Uncountable; usually used with the, and often capitalized for the script.
Patterns
- the demotic
Modern Greek schools now teach the demotic.
He wrote his column in the demotic rather than the formal register.
The Egyptian demotic replaced older scripts in daily use.
Common combinations
- demotic speech
- Her demotic speech endeared her to local residents.
- demotic style
- The paper is written in a demotic style.
- demotic Greek
- Demotic Greek is the spoken language of everyday life.
- demotic script
- The scribe wrote the receipt in demotic script.
- a demotic touch
- The speech had a demotic touch that charmed the crowd.
Synonyms and how they differ
- colloquial
- Colloquial describes informal conversation, while demotic suggests the language of the common people as a social group.
- vernacular
- Vernacular is the native language of a place and sets it against a learned language like Latin.
- popular
- Popular means liked or used by many people and does not point to a language register.
- informal
- Informal is a general label for relaxed language and lacks the social or class overtone of demotic.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: demotic or demonic?
demotic vs demonic
Demonic means like or caused by a demon, and has nothing to do with ordinary language.
Practice
The columnist deliberately writes in a ___ style so that every reader can follow her.
Choose one answer.
A demotic style is plain and everyday. Ornate and archaic would make it harder for ordinary readers to follow.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “demotic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.