Achilles

[uh-kil-eez]

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and hero of Homer's Iliad. He killed Hector and was killed when Paris wounded him in the heel, his one vulnerable spot, with an arrow.

Achilles

/ ˌækɪˈliːən, əˈkɪliːz /

noun

1. Greek myth Greek hero, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis: in the Iliad the foremost of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy. While he was a baby his mother plunged him into the river Styx making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. After slaying Hector, he was killed by Paris who wounded him in the heel

Achilles

1. In classical mythology, the greatest warrior on the Greek side in the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). When he was an infant, his mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable. During the Trojan War, he quarreled with the commander, Agamemnon, and in anger sulked in his tent. Eventually Achilles emerged to fight and killed the Trojan hero Hector, but he was wounded in the heel by an arrow and died shortly thereafter.

Achilles is the hero of Homer's Iliad.

People speak of an “Achilles' heel” as the one weak or sore point in a person's character.

The phrase “wrath of Achilles” refers to the hero's anger, which caused so much destruction that Homer refers to it as his main theme in the first line of the Iliad.

The Achilles tendon runs from the heel to the calf.

Other Word Forms

• Achillean adjective

Example Sentences

His comeback is also remarkable - not that long ago, when you did your Achilles, that was a done deal.

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Lawrence, 26, returned from an Achilles injury in time to start the new Prem Rugby season and is in the England squad for the Autumn Internationals.

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Fin Smith starts at fly-half in place of George Ford, with Ollie Lawrence returning at outside centre after recovering from Achilles tendon surgery.

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The TriColor and First Brands cases prove that data integrity is the Achilles’ heel of modern lending.

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“This exposes an Achilles heel to the Burn, and other people potentially trying to get away with something this awful.”

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