angelic

adjective

an·​gel·​ic an-ˈje-lik 

variants or less commonly angelical

an-ˈje-li-kəl 

: of or relating to angels

angelic forms

For even they, the very devils, when they sinned, sinned by such a sin as alone was compatible with such angelical natures …

—James Joyce

: resembling, or suggestive of, an angel (as in purity, holiness, innocence, or beauty)

a sweet, angelic child

an angelic voice/smile

When women are brooding over their children, or busied in a sick-room, who has not seen in their faces those sweet angelic beams of love and pity?

—William Makepeace Thackeray

At 12, Westenra was busking on the streets of Christchurch, singing arias and Bee Gees tunes in an angelic soprano …

—Joan Anderman

angelically

an-ˈje-li-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

smiling angelically

And, oh, how good we were! How angelically and unnaturally good!

—Lucy Maud Montgomery

Examples of angelic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Declan’s feckless wife, Maud (Victoria Smurfit); his angelic elder daughter, Taggie (Bella Maclean); and his younger daughter, Caitlin (Catriona Chandler), all immediately fall for Rupert, whose ancestral manor house is located just a couple of fields away. —Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 1 Nov. 2024

The ax-wielding Nation hardly fit the idealized picture of an angelic woman tending to her household. —Elizabeth Marshall / Made By History, TIME, 23 Oct. 2024

Opponents of women’s suffrage argued that banning women from voting was actually a way of protecting them and preserving their angelic femininity. —Natalie Kinkade, JSTOR Daily, 25 Sep. 2024

Nearby, Lili Reinhart opted for an edgy suit set, while fashion guru Liv Perez looked angelic in an all-white, tweed number. —Eliseé Browchuk, Vogue, 13 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above