Tiresias

or Tei·re·si·as

[ tahy-ree-see-uhs ]

nounClassical Mythology.
  1. a blind prophet, usually said to have been blinded because he saw Athena bathing, and then to have been awarded the gift of prophecy as a consolation for his blindness.

Words Nearby Tiresias

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Tiresias in a sentence

  • Tiresias speaks at first without drinking of the blood, yet he has to drink of it to tell his prophecy.

    Homer's Odyssey | Denton J. Snider
  • Tiresias, though he spans the three dimensions of Time, is essentially the prophet, and so his stress is upon the Future.

    Homer's Odyssey | Denton J. Snider
  • But Ulysses must first hear Tiresias, the strongest ties of Family are subordinate to the great purpose.

    Homer's Odyssey | Denton J. Snider
  • Dorastus and Clinias also try their fate with Tiresias; he prophesies their early death, and they jest upon the subject.

    Narcissus | Unknown
  • Tiresias: the Theban prophet, deprived of sight by Juno; Jupiter, in compensation, bestowed upon him the power of prophecy.

British Dictionary definitions for Tiresias

Tiresias

/ (taɪˈriːsɪˌæs) /


noun
  1. Greek myth a blind soothsayer of Thebes, who revealed to Oedipus that the latter had murdered his father and married his mother

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

Cultural definitions for Tiresias

Tiresias

[ (teye-ree-see-uhs) ]


In classical mythology, the blind prophet who revealed the truth of the crimes of Oedipus. According to the Roman poet Ovid, Tiresias spent part of his life as a man and part of it as a woman, so he knew the act of love from both points of view. When asked by Jupiter and Juno who enjoyed sex more, he answered that women did. This answer so enraged Juno that she blinded Tiresias.

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.