Caliban

American  

[kal-uh-ban] / ˈkæl əˌbæn /

noun

1. a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest, described as the half-human native inhabitant of the island, who is enslaved by the character Prospero.

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Caliban British  

/ ˈkælɪˌbæn /

noun

1. a brutish or brutalized man

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Etymology

Origin of Caliban

First recorded in 1610–15; probably a variant of cannibal ( def. ) or Carib ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Caliban

“The isle is full of noises,” sings Caliban, and on Tuesday night it certainly was.

From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2023

That led Orwell to write his landmark The Road To Wigan Pier, which was published two years after Caliban Shrieks.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2023

Caliban, Prospero’s malformed lackey, has been reclaimed by postcolonial critics as an example of an oppressed “other,” an enslaved man whose dignity has been denied by European imperialists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2023

The language Shakespeare uses to describe the angry, servile Caliban alludes to slavery, which the directors have excised from their production.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2023

And by the way, for the record, I didn’t exactly say “Oh” when Sycorax and Caliban jumped out from the cages.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt