Obs. [ad. L. acousmatic-us (of which the pl. acousmatici also occurs unchanged), a. Gr. ἀκουσματικός lit. one willing to hear.] A professed hearer, a class of scholars under Pythagoras, who listened to his teaching, without inquiring into its inner truths or bases.
1655–60. T. Stanley, Hist. Philos., 358/1 (1701). There were many Auditors called Acousmaticks, whereof he gained two thousand by one oration. Ibid., 373/1. The Acousmatici they, who heard only the chief heads of learning, without more exact explication.
