Euripides

American  

[yoo-rip-i-deez, yuh-] / yʊˈrɪp ɪˌdiz, yə- /

noun

1. c480–406? b.c., Greek dramatist.

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Euripides British  

/ jʊˈrɪpɪˌdiːz /

noun

1. ?480–406 _bc , Greek tragic dramatist. His plays, 18 of which are extant, include Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, Hecuba, Trojan Women, Electra, Iphigeneia in Tauris, Iphigeneia in Aulis, and Bacchae

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Euripides Cultural  

1. An ancient Greek dramatist. He was the author of numerous tragedies, including the Bacchae, Medea, and The Trojan Women. He often used the device of deus ex machina (literally, “a god from the machine”) to resolve his plots.

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Today, a “deus ex machina” refers to any person or event that provides a sudden, unexpected solution to a problem or situation.

Other Word Forms

• Euripidean adjective

Example Sentences

But while the bloody rites of the original Euripides are at the heart of the tale, this version is so relentlessly digressive and irreverent that it plays more like parody than tragedy.

From The Wall Street Journal

Set in the idyllic island of Naxos, Greece, Pochoda refashions Euripides’ “The Bacchae” to weave a hypnotic tale of recently widowed Lena, breaking free from the strictures imposed by the men in her life.

From Los Angeles Times

While still set in 21st-century America, this one is based on Euripides’ “The Bacchae” — well, the one he might have written as a brilliant, fiercely feminist provocateur.

From Los Angeles Times

Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides illuminated how pride, injustice and failed leadership could threaten a community.

From Salon

Even Aristotle, who could be said to have launched literary criticism, set forth the precepts of tragedy by empirically studying the indelible examples of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

From Los Angeles Times