Sophocles

American

[sof-uh-kleez] / ˈsɒf əˌkliz /

noun

495?–406? b.c., Greek dramatist.

Sophocles British

/ ˈsɒfəˌkliːz, ˌsɒfəˈkliːən /

noun

?496–406 _bc , Greek dramatist; author of seven extant tragedies: Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Trachiniae, Electra, Philoctetes , and Oedipus at Colonus

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Sophocles Cultural

An ancient Greek poet, author of Oedipus Rex and Antigone. He is counted, with Euripides and Aeschylus, among the great Greek authors of tragedies.

Other Word Forms

Sophoclean adjective

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Now another notable British writer and director, Alexander Zeldin, has brought a new play inspired by Sophocles’ “Antigone” to the Shed, in a co-production with London’s National Theatre.

From The Wall Street Journal

Sophocles, of course, didn’t need Oedipus to chat directly with the audience.

From Los Angeles Times

Sophocles himself might have approved the tragic symmetry.

From The Wall Street Journal

In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus confronts a plague that has been laying waste to Thebes.

From Los Angeles Times

I thought what might follow would be Mr. Icke’s most provocative—and logical and interesting—departure from Sophocles, an ending of a more ambiguous and less gruesome kind.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023