El|e|at|ic

El|e|at|ic «_EHL ee AT ihk», adjective, noun.

–adj.

1. having to do with Elea, an ancient Greek town in southern Italy or Magna Graecia, or its inhabitants.

2. having to do with the philosophy of Xenophanes, who lived at Elea, and his followers Parmenides and Zeno. Its chief doctrine is that the only reality is an unchanging Being; the world that is perceptible to the senses is too unstable and perishable to be ultimate reality.

–n.

1. a native or inhabitant of Elea.

2. an adherent of Eleatic philosophy.

╂[< Latin Eleāticus of Elea, an ancient Greek colony in southwest Italy where Xenophanes lived]