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Having looked it up, no dictionary I can find lists a definition for a hypothetical adjective ❌ deitous, which left me wondering whether by attempting to use ‑ous I perhaps had added the ‘wrong’ suffix to deity in order to convert the noun into its corresponding derived adjective.

This is more of a pedantic question, but just out of curiosity, does anyone know of a word like what I’m describing, an adjectival form corresponding to deity?

That is, an adjective of the form [(root of deity) + suffix], able to be used in sentences such as...

  • Many regard the creation of the Universe as a ________ act.
  • Magical powers and ________ powers can be seen as a spectrum.
  • The people in her empire had no doubt she was ________.
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    Try including a sample sentence where you would use the adjectival form.
    – Kris
    Commented Nov 27, 2018 at 6:31

2 Answers 2

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There's no English adjective that derives directly from the noun deity, but there's an adjective that means "of or like a god" and has the same root as deity:

divine
ADJECTIVE

  1. Of or like God or a god.
    -- ‘heroes with divine powers’
    -- ‘paintings of shipwrecks being prevented by divine intervention’

Origin
Late Middle English: via Old French from Latin divinus, from divus ‘godlike’ (related to deus ‘god’).

[Oxford Dictionaries]

Compare this with the origin of deity:

1250–1300; Middle English deite < Old French < Late Latin deitāt- (stem of deitās ), equivalent to Latin dei- (combining form of deus god) + -tāt- -ty2, formed after Latin dīvīnitās divinity

[Oxford Dictionaries]

Those with an interest in etymology might enjoy this detailed chart by John Lawler showing the common roots of various words related to deity/divine.

inlined copy of John Lawler’s chart from his PDF

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Deific might be closer to what you're after.

From the Macquarie (Australian) Dictionary:

deific adjective making divine; deifying.

[Late Latin deificus god-making, sacred]

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