ekstasis

ek·sta·sis
E1K5S1T1A1S1I1S1
/ˈɛkstəsɪs/

noun

The state of being beside oneself or rapt out of oneself.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nounekstasis (countable and uncountable, plural ekstases)

plural ekstases · alternative ecstasis

  1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe state of being beside oneself or rapt out of oneself.

    We find ourselves then in the presence of two human ekstases: the ekstasis which throws us into being-in-itself and the ekstasis which engages us in non-being.

    1956, Hazel E. Barnes, Being and Nothingness, translation of original by Jean-Paul Sartre
    5 more examples

    [1914], 1995, Holden E Sampson, The True Mystic http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=Qqm7RQvTQ3sC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&sig=5lVGuxEcsuYip2s9t2xgSTWp4nc In Psychics the strange phenomenon of “Katalepsis” experienced by developed “trance-mediumship” bears so close a resemblance, physically, to Ekstasis, that the two are often taken for one and the same thing.

    In no wise is it possible for the State of Ekstasis to be attained by Mankind except as the prelude to Initiation in the Divine Mysteries. When the Initiations have been fully accomplished, to the Seventh Golden Gate, there is no further need for the Processes requisite to induce the State of Ekstasis.

    1918, Holden Edward Sampson, Theou Sophia

    Conversely, expecting is, as we say, ecstatic. The ecstasy mentioned here, stepping out itself (ἔκστασις) is to some extent a raptus [rapture]. [...] And we therefore call these three basic phenomena the ecstases of temporality.

    1984, Michael Heim, The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic, translation of original by Martin Heidegger

    This is a double but infinite responsibility, infinitely redoubled, split in two (dé-doublée), shared and parcelled out; an infinitely divided responsibility, dissemintated, if you will, for one person, for only one---all alone (this is the condition of responsibility)---and a bottomless double responsibility that implicitly describes an intertwining of temporal ekstases; a friendship to come of time with itself where we meet again the interlacing of the sameand the altogether other ('Grundlick-Anderes') which orientates us in this labyrinth.

    1994, George Collins, The Politics of Friendship, Verso, translation of original by Jacques Derrida, published 2005, page 73

    2002, Angela Dalle Vacche, “Unexplored Connections in a New Territory,” in The Visual Turn, Angela Dalle Vacche ed. http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=mrxLuyQ1GjYC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&sig=LX0CsBvZonTHzR-w7F2suuDhwck Eisenstein’s discussion of Serov’s portrait associates ekstasis with an “expulsion of meaning.” By contrast, the filmmaker’s handling of Vasily Surikov’s large canvas, La Bojara Morozova (1887), is an example of ekstasis as expressive conversion from the visual to the acoustic.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἔκστασις“displacement, cession, trance”
  2. Englishekstasis

Ancient Greek ἔκστασις (ékstasis, “displacement, cession, trance”)

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ekstasis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ekstasis

MLA

“ekstasis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ekstasis. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ekstasis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ekstasis.

Source: ekstasis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.