Adonis
Americannoun
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Classical Mythology. a youth slain by a wild boar but permitted by Zeus to pass four months every year in the lower world with Persephone, four with Aphrodite, and four wherever he chose.
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a very handsome young man.
noun
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Greek myth a handsome youth loved by Aphrodite. Killed by a wild boar, he was believed to spend part of the year in the underworld and part on earth, symbolizing the vegetative cycle
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a handsome young man
Discover More
By extension, an “Adonis” is any handsome young man.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Adonis
1615–25 Adonis for def. 2
Explanation
An adonis is a very handsome man, especially a young one. You might secretly think of your good-looking neighbor as "a young adonis." You'll most commonly see this word capitalized: Adonis, though if you're using it to mean "handsome guy," it's okay to use a lower-case a. Its origin is the god Adonis, in Greek mythology the eternally youthful god of beauty and desire. When you call someone an adonis, there's an implication that he's a bit vain about his good looks: "He knows he's the adonis of the family."
Vocabulary lists containing adonis
Reading: Literature - Mythology - Middle School
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Ancient Greece: Mythology and Literature - Middle School
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
AI health startup Adonis leased a 25,000-square-foot office at 3 World Trade Center during a time when it had only 25 employees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Reibe will start next to Cofie, while the Trojans will have three top-25 prospects in Christian Collins and Adonis and Darius Ratliff to fit in somewhere alongside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
Until the 1990s, that is, when relentless tabloid coverage reinvented him as New York City’s Adonis.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026
Adonis Storr of the Roaring Peacock believes forward Noah Okafor is the player who makes the biggest difference for Daniel Farke's side.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2025
“Delicate Adonis is dying, Cytherea, what shall we do? Beat your breasts, maidens, and rend your tunics.”
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
The matchbooks on display at the library, nostalgic artifacts adorned with images of muscled Adonises and punning slogans, were everyday objects — used and discarded — at the time they were made.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2019
A stark difference between me and the zero-body-fat Adonises.
From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2016
When a trend is embraced by both the baby-oiled Adonises of luxury fashion and the ruling-class matrons of the Old World, you know somebody’s doing something wrong.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2010
In this alternate universe, the gods are bronzed-faced Adonises and everyone bleeds yellow and green.
From Washington Post
But after this portrait you must not figure to yourself one of those elegant young men, those Adonises of romance who excite the admiration of the drawing-room.
From Hortense Makers of History Series by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
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.
