Amazons


In classical mythology, a nation of warrior women. The Amazons burned or cut off one of their breasts so that they could use a bow and arrow more efficiently in war.

Notes for Amazons

Figuratively, an “Amazon” is a large, strong, aggressive woman.

Notes for Amazons

The Amazon River of South America was so named because tribes of women warriors were believed to live along its banks.

Words Nearby Amazons

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

How to use Amazons in a sentence

  • We do not know that women were usually buried in howe, but Myrine was a warrior maiden of the Amazons.

    Homer and His Age | Andrew Lang
  • D'Acugna fixes the residence of the Amazons on the banks of the Canuriz, on lofty, almost inaccessible mountains.

  • Thus, from the west as well as from the north, Europeans heard of a nation of Amazons dwelling in the central districts of Guiana.