Adonis

American  

[uh-don-is, uh-doh-nis] / əˈdɒn ɪs, əˈdoʊ nɪs /

noun

• Adonises
  plural

1. Classical Mythology. a youth slain by a wild boar but permitted by Zeus to pass four months every year in the lower world with Persephone, four with Aphrodite, and four wherever he chose.

2. a very handsome young man.

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Adonis British  

/ əˈdəʊnɪs /

noun

1. Greek myth a handsome youth loved by Aphrodite. Killed by a wild boar, he was believed to spend part of the year in the underworld and part on earth, symbolizing the vegetative cycle

2. a handsome young man

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Adonis Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, an extremely beautiful boy who was loved by Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

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Discover More

By extension, an “Adonis” is any handsome young man.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Adonises
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Adonis

1615–25 Adonis for def. 2

Explanation

An adonis is a very handsome man, especially a young one. You might secretly think of your good-looking neighbor as "a young adonis." You'll most commonly see this word capitalized: Adonis, though if you're using it to mean "handsome guy," it's okay to use a lower-case a. Its origin is the god Adonis, in Greek mythology the eternally youthful god of beauty and desire. When you call someone an adonis, there's an implication that he's a bit vain about his good looks: "He knows he's the adonis of the family."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Adonis Adonises

Until the 1990s, that is, when relentless tabloid coverage reinvented him as New York City’s Adonis.

From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026

For now, though, Mr. Skarsgård has embraced the obvious fact that he is an Adonis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

Health minister Adonis Georgiadis earlier told the Skai news agency that six workers and a firefighter had been taken to hospital, adding that they were "in good health, mainly suffering from respiratory problems".

From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026

In between Coogler projects, Jordan starred in “Just Mercy” as real-life death row attorney Bryan Stevenson and directed “Creed III,” reprising his role as Adonis “Donnie” Creed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025

He decided that Adonis should spend half the year with each, the autumn and winter with the Queen of the Dead; the spring and summer with the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

The matchbooks on display at the library, nostalgic artifacts adorned with images of muscled Adonises and punning slogans, were everyday objects — used and discarded — at the time they were made.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2019

A stark difference between me and the zero-body-fat Adonises.

From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2016

When a trend is embraced by both the baby-oiled Adonises of luxury fashion and the ruling-class matrons of the Old World, you know somebody’s doing something wrong.

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2010

In this alternate universe, the gods are bronzed-faced Adonises and everyone bleeds yellow and green.

From Washington Post

Peasants imagine themselves princes; Calibans believe themselves to be Adonises; beggars imagine themselves millionaires.

From The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 2 by Harry Furniss

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