protean

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In Hobo Land the face of life is protean--an ever changing phantasmagoria, where the impossible happens and the unexpected jumps out of the bushes at every turn of the road.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Readily taking on varied shapes, forms, or meanings.
  2. adjective Exhibiting considerable variety or diversity: "He loved to show off his protean talent” (William A. Henry III).

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Examples (50)

  • Too common to trace Perp is primarily an illusionist Talented at sleight-of-hand Also knows protean (quick change) magic. —  The Vanished Man
  • Too common to trace Perp is primarily an illusionist Talented at sleight-of-hand Also knows protean (quick-change) magic. —  The Vanished Man
  • Talented at sleight-of-hand Also knows protean (quick change) magic. —  The Vanished Man
  • Talented at sleight-of-hand Also knows protean (quick-change) magic. —  The Vanished Man
  • This kind of protean identity shifting harks back to Greek myths—woman into tree, man into deer. —  Asimov'sSF,January2007
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

protean:   Protean
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

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