The lonic order, in architecture, is that species of column named from lonia, in Greece. It is more slender than the Doric and Tuscan, but less slender and less ornamented than the Corinthian and Composite. It is simple, but majestic; its highth is 18 modules, and that of the entablature four and a half.

The lonic dialect of the Greek language, is the dialect used in lonia.

The lonic sect of philosophers, was that founded by Thales of Miletus, in lonia. Their distinguishing tenet was, that water is the principle of all natural things.

Denoting an airy kind of music. The lonic or lonian mode was, reckoning from grave to acute, the second of the five middle modes.