Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

Shakespeare

American  
[sheyk-speer] / ˈʃeɪk spɪər /
Or Shakspere,

noun

  1. William, the Bard of Avon, 1564–1616, English poet and dramatist.


Shakespeare British  
/ ˈʃeɪkspɪə /

noun

  1. William. 1564–1616, English dramatist and poet. He was born and died at Stratford-upon-Avon but spent most of his life as an actor and playwright in London. His plays with approximate dates of composition are: Henry VI, Parts I–III (1590); Richard III (1592); The Comedy of Errors (1592); Titus Andronicus (1593); The Taming of the Shrew (1593); The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594); Love's Labour's Lost (1594); Romeo and Juliet (1594); Richard II (1595); A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595); King John (1596); The Merchant of Venice (1596); Henry IV, Parts I–II (1597); Much Ado about Nothing (1598); Henry V (1598); Julius Caesar (1599); As You Like It (1599); Twelfth Night (1599); Hamlet (1600); The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600); Troilus and Cressida (1601); All's Well that ends Well (1602); Measure for Measure (1604); Othello (1604); King Lear (1605); Macbeth (1605); Antony and Cleopatra (1606); Coriolanus (1607); Timon of Athens (1607); Pericles (1608); Cymbeline (1609); The Winter's Tale (1610); The Tempest (1611); and, possibly in collaboration with John Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsmen (1612) and Henry VIII (1612). His Sonnets, variously addressed to a fair young man and a dark lady, were published in 1609

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

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:

Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton are examples of authors who hewed closely to writers who had come before them.

From Salon Aug. 23, 2026

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON — The Kingdom of Westeros arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday night as “Game of Thrones: The Mad King” held its opening night at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 10, 2026

The opening is significant for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, home to the Royal Shakespeare Company since 1931.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 10, 2026

Tamara Harvey, co-artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said Gill was a "true artist and tirelessly devoted to the theatre".

From BBC Aug. 4, 2026

But Shakespeare would never have gotten famous if he hadn’t appealed to the groundlings.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training