Meanings
plural symposiasts
- archaicSomeone participating at a banquet or drinking party.
Lady ――― is tolerably well, with two courses and a French cook. She has fitted up her lower rooms in a very pretty style, and there receives the shattered remains of the symposiasts of the house.
1842 September 11 Sydney Smith "Letter to Lady Day" in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, Volume 2 (1855; London: Longman, Brown, Green) p.469, No.478 - A participant in a symposium.
I can begin to speak to some of these issues and to the charge given the symposiasts by referencing some of my own work which for more than a decade addressed issues in or on the edge of one major public policy debate.
1997, Carl F. Cranor, “A Philosophy of Risk Assessment and the Law: A Case Study of the Role of Philosophy in Public Policy” in Philosophical Studies LXXXV, № 2/3, page 135
Origin
- Ancient Greekσυμποσιαστής“a fellow-drinker; a boon-companion”
- Englishsymposiast
From the Ancient Greek συμποσιαστής (sumposiastḗs, “a fellow-drinker; a boon-companion”), from συμπόσιον (sumpósion), whence symposium.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
symposiast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symposiast
“symposiast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symposiast. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “symposiast,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/symposiast.
Source: symposiast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.