Achilles

American  

[uh-kil-eez] / əˈkɪl iz /

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and hero of Homer's Iliad. He killed Hector and was killed when Paris wounded him in the heel, his one vulnerable spot, with an arrow.

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Achilles British  

/ ˌækɪˈliːən, əˈkɪliːz /

noun

1. Greek myth Greek hero, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis: in the Iliad the foremost of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy. While he was a baby his mother plunged him into the river Styx making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. After slaying Hector, he was killed by Paris who wounded him in the heel

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Achilles Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the greatest warrior on the Greek side in the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). When he was an infant, his mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable. During the Trojan War, he quarreled with the commander, Agamemnon, and in anger sulked in his tent. Eventually Achilles emerged to fight and killed the Trojan hero Hector, but he was wounded in the heel by an arrow and died shortly thereafter.

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Discover More

Achilles is the hero of Homer's Iliad.

People speak of an “Achilles' heel” as the one weak or sore point in a person's character.

The phrase “wrath of Achilles” refers to the hero's anger, which caused so much destruction that Homer refers to it as his main theme in the first line of the Iliad.

The Achilles tendon runs from the heel to the calf.

Other Word Forms

• Achillean adjective

Example Sentences

He suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon in March 2025 and underwent back surgery last October.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

He hasn’t competed on tour since the 2024 British Open after tearing his Achilles last year and undergoing what was at least his seventh back surgery.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

Olympic champion Sifan Hassan has withdrawn from April's London Marathon because of an Achilles injury.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026

He suffered severe leg injuries in a 2021 car crash before undergoing a back operation in September 2024 and suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon last March.

From BBC • Feb. 17, 2026

Imagine, too, that the tortoise starts off a foot ahead of Achilles.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife