any of certain women of antiquity reputed to possess powers of prophecy or divination.
a female prophet or witch.
(in ancient Greece and Rome) any of a number of women believed to be oracles or prophetesses, one of the most famous being the sibyl of Cumae, who guided Aeneas through the underworld
a witch, fortune-teller, or sorceress
1250–1300; < Greek Síbylla Sibylla; replacing Middle English Sibil < Medieval Latin Sibilla < Greek, as above
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sherman has been the sibyl of such proliferating confusions, toying with representation’s integrity and the boundaries of identity for more than four decades.
From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2024
It was deemed a line straight to God — staggering, the voice of an enchantress, a sibyl, a siren.
From Washington Post • May 11, 2021
Since the mid-1980s, Ms. Cook has reigned as a kind of sibyl channeling the wisdom and humanity of the American songbook, particularly as embodied in the work of Stephen Sondheim.
From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2016
The writer: syndicated Gossip Columnist Joyce Haber, 42, who was ousted by the Times after nine years of being cheered, feared and courted as Hollywood's most powerful journalistic sibyl.
From Time Magazine Archive
Why did he go to so much trouble when the finished sibyl is mostly clothed and must be viewed from a considerable distance below?
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
