Shakespeare

American  

[sheyk-speer] / ˈʃeɪk spɪər /

Or Shakspere,

noun

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

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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

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Other Word Forms

• pre-Shakespeare adjective

Example Sentences

Writing mediums composed original work dictated by dead authors, among them Shakespeare, Shelley, and Poe.

From Literature

William Shakespeare’s “Richard III” is a brutal play — brutal to watch and just as brutal to stage.

From Los Angeles Times

Catherine, wearing a pink and white gown with a burgundy velvet belt which matched William's suit jacket, said she saw the Shakespeare drama on Saturday.

From BBC

Remarkably, Mr. Mian regards Leon Trotsky, not William Shakespeare or Leo Tolstoy, as “the greatest writer . . . of all time.”

From The Wall Street Journal

An offbeat political thriller, a vampire horror film and a period drama about Shakespeare will go head-to-head Sunday at the BAFTAs, Britain's biggest film awards, setting the stage for the Oscars.

From Barron's