Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • Greek dramatist whose Oedipus Rex was described by Aristotle as the perfect tragedy. Among his other surviving plays are Ajax and Antigone.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A Greek dramatic poet (ca.495 BC – 406 BC); Sophocles was one of the three greatest Greek tragedians. In the Athenian dramatic competitions of the Festival of Dionysus, he won more first prizes (around 20) than any other playwright, and placed second in all others he participated in. He is best remembered for his Oedipus Cycle of plays.
  • proper noun A male given name, mostly representing transliteration of the modern Greek Σοφοκλής.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun one of the great tragedians of ancient Greece (496-406 BC)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Σοφοκλῆς (Sophoklēs).

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Examples

  • Again, when on a time Sophocles, who was his fellow-commissioner in the generalship, was going on board with him, and praised the beauty of a youth they met with in the way to the ship, “Sophocles, ” said he, “a general ought not only to have clean hands, but also clean eyes.

    Pericles Plutarch 1909

  • one response to these bottlenecks was to compose anthologies, chrestomathies, greatest hits compilations. why copy over the plays of sophocles that were less than brilliant? that competes with resources for copying any of aeschylus. so instead of the 123 plays Sophocles wrote, we have the seven that were considered his greatest hits. and seven by aeschylus, too.

    Making Light: Open thread 136 2010

  • Cut to Athens before the victory parade where a quiet young boy called Sophocles is chosen to lead the Procession of the Youth.

    Alcibiades: canonically irresistable. karenhealey 2010

  • It suggests that philosophy and cultural studies do, perhaps inevitably, meet at some crossroads or other, perhaps where the three roads meet in Sophocles's Oedipus the

    Crossroads of Philosophy and Cultural Studies: Body, Context, Performativity, Community 2008

  • Maybe next we can remove the Oedipus trilogy from the curriculum, because man, Sophocles is a bummer.

    Conservatives Against Hard Work 2007

  • The odes are relevant, the Chorus is indispensable; in short, Sophocles has shown

    Authors of Greece T. W. Lumb

  • Sophocles is against us; but he says "lamenting Itys," and the comparison of her to Electra is rather as to perseverance day and night than as to sorrow.

    Rural Hours 1887

  • "Sophocles" -- and stained with sea water, as that was stained.

    The Case of Richard Meynell Humphry Ward 1885

  • You have to remember that GoLFs have been around for thousands of years at least since Aristarchus called Sophocles' writing "ham-handed vulgarity", so there are many rules that have been prescribed to GoLFing.

    Jeff Klima: 10 Rules for a Literary Feud Jeff Klima 2011

  • You have to remember that GoLFs have been around for thousands of years at least since Aristarchus called Sophocles' writing "ham-handed vulgarity", so there are many rules that have been prescribed to GoLFing.

    Jeff Klima: 10 Rules for a Literary Feud Jeff Klima 2011

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