Pantheon
noun
a domed circular temple at Rome, erected a.d. 120–124 by Hadrian, used as a church since a.d.
Pantheon
1 American
[pan-thee-on, -uhn, pan-thee-uhn]
/ ˈpæn θiˌɒn, -ən, pænˈθi ən /
noun
-
a domed circular temple at Rome, erected a.d. 120–124 by Hadrian, used as a church since a.d.
-
(lowercase) a public building containing tombs or memorials of the illustrious dead of a nation.
-
(lowercase) the place of the heroes or idols of any group, individual, movement, party, etc., or the heroes or idols themselves.
to earn a place in the pantheon of American literature.
-
(lowercase) a temple dedicated to all the gods.
-
(lowercase) the gods of a particular mythology considered collectively.
Panthéon
2
American
[pahn -tey-awn]
/ pɑ̃ teɪˈɔ̃ /
noun
pantheon
1
British
/ pænˈθiːən, ˈpænθɪən /
noun
-
(esp in ancient Greece or Rome) a temple to all the gods
-
all the gods collectively of a religion
-
a monument or building commemorating a nation's dead heroes
Pantheon
2
British
/ pænˈθiːən, ˈpænθɪən /
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Pantheon
1375–1425; late Middle English panteon < Latin Panthēon < Greek Pántheion, noun use of neuter of pántheios of all gods, equivalent to pan- pan- + the ( ós ) god + -ios adj. suffix
Explanation
In the pantheon of great movie stars, Marilyn Monroe might well be considered the brightest of them all. The actual Pantheon was a temple built by the Romans — but we use it to mean any group of exalted figures. To place someone in a pantheon is to decide that they belong to a "club" whose members are all only the greatest people to have done the same thing. It's like a little temple of little gods. Tiger Woods, for example, definitely belongs in the pantheon of great golfers –– alongside Palmer, Nicklaus and Singh. If you want to see the real Pantheon, that is the building itself with the world's oldest concrete dome, then you'll have to go to Rome.
Vocabulary lists containing pantheon
For National Pancake Day, Words With the Greek Roots "Pan-"
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Ancient Rome - Introductory
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This Week in Pop Culture: January 26 - February 1, 2019
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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:
Colin Scott had just arrived in the Italian capital with partner Anabella Mcallister, when he disappeared up a side street near the Pantheon at about 22:00 on Friday evening.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Economist Oliver Allen of Pantheon Macroeconomics cautioned that there could be a sharper slowdown ahead.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
McCulloch said the Warner Bros store was one of a growing number of "major investments" on Oxford Street, alongside Puma, Space NK, M&S Pantheon and Zara having either opened or expanded on the street.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Pantheon last year raised $5.2 billion for secondary investments in private-credit assets—one of the industry’s largest fundraising hauls for the strategy at the time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
It would keep swinging, she understood, after she and her father left the Pantheon, after she had fallen asleep that night.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
In 1989, during the French revolutionary bicentennial celebrations, Condorcet was symbolically interred in the Panthéon, but Brissot, who advocated the export of the revolution to other nations by force, remains a less-celebrated figure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
The Panthéon is the resting place of 83 people — 76 men and seven women — including Manouchian and his wife.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
Manouchian’s coffin, covered with the French flag, will be carried in the street in front of the Panthéon by soldiers of the Foreign Legion.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
In 2019, the Panthéon — a heavily freighted monument to France that was commissioned by Louis XV and finished during the Revolution — was stormed by hundreds of undocumented migrants, most from West Africa.
From New York Times ● Apr. 14, 2022
A statue of Hugo in his famous posture of reverie fronted the Panthéon.
From Victor Hugo: His Life and Works by G. Barnett Smith
But in a pantheon of colourful characters, Count Binface, a man wearing a rubbish bin over his head, is stealing the show.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
“I’m drawn to police detectives, not private detectives,” he says, pointing to the duty-bound, badge-wearing protagonist in “Cure,” a Criterion-anointed classic now held in the same pantheon of serial killer tales as “Seven” and “Manhunter.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
But the question of where Laufey sits in the pantheon of popular music has befuddled critics ever since.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
He was also a rambling eccentric whose personal pantheon included Jesus, Hillel, Muhammad, Karl Marx and Carl Sagan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Mesoamerica would deserve its place in the human pantheon if its inhabitants had only created maize, in terms of harvest weight the world’s most important crop.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
