sibyl
noun
any of certain women of antiquity reputed to possess powers of prophecy or divination.
sibyl
1 American
[sib-uhl]
/ ˈsɪb əl /
noun
-
any of certain women of antiquity reputed to possess powers of prophecy or divination.
-
a female prophet or witch.
Sibyl
2
American
[sib-uhl]
/ ˈsɪb əl /
Or
Sibylle
noun
sibyl
British
/ ˈsɪbɪl /
noun
-
(in ancient Greece and Rome) any of a number of women believed to be oracles or prophetesses, one of the most famous being the sibyl of Cumae, who guided Aeneas through the underworld
-
a witch, fortune-teller, or sorceress
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sibyl
1250–1300; < Greek Síbylla Sibylla; replacing Middle English Sibil < Medieval Latin Sibilla < Greek, as above
Vocabulary lists containing sibyl
Reading: Literature - Mythology - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - Middle School
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - High School
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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:
Sherman has been the sibyl of such proliferating confusions, toying with representation’s integrity and the boundaries of identity for more than four decades.
From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
It was deemed a line straight to God — staggering, the voice of an enchantress, a sibyl, a siren.
From Washington Post ● May 11, 2021
Since the mid-1980s, Ms. Cook has reigned as a kind of sibyl channeling the wisdom and humanity of the American songbook, particularly as embodied in the work of Stephen Sondheim.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2016
He shows Emperor Octavian asking the Tiburtine sibyl whether any king as great as he would ever live; the sibyl replies by showing the Emperor a vision of the Christ Child.
From Time Magazine Archive
Why did he go to so much trouble when the finished sibyl is mostly clothed and must be viewed from a considerable distance below?
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
The 5-inch drawing depicts the right foot of the Libyan Sibyl, a blonde prophetess wearing a creamsicle gown painted onto the chapel ceiling’s eastern end.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
The small red chalk sketch is thought to date to about 1511-1512 when Michelangelo was preparing to work on the second half of his painting of the Sistine ceiling, which included the Libyan Sibyl.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
The set by Sibyl Wickersheimer is full of sunshiny touches suggesting the work of a child creating a magical space to ward off domestic sadness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2023
From there it’s on to Frankenstein, Bigfoot and Sasquatch as Abrons presents a streaming video adaptation of Sibyl Kempson’s “The Securely Conferred, Vouchsafed Keepsakes of Maery S.,” beginning Oct.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2021
The Sibyl, too, had some cake for him and he gave them no trouble.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
