Adonis

[ uh-don-is, uh-doh-nis ]

/ əˈdɒn ɪs, əˈdoʊ nɪs /

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noun

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.

a very handsome young man.

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Origin of Adonis

1615–25 for def. 2

Words nearby Adonis

Adolf, Doll's House, A, Adonai, Adonic, Adonijah, Adonis, Adon Olam, adopt, adoptable, adopted, adoptee

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Adonis in a sentence

Cyrus tweeted a series of photos posing with a Hand of Adonis sex toy on a a plane.
Ke$ha Leaves Rehab, Miley Cyrus Poses With Sex Toy|Culture Team|March 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Brad Pitt, even in an impromptu cell phone photo, manages to look like Adonis on earth.
Ellen's Epic Oscar Selfie Is Now the Most Retweeted Tweet Ever|Kevin Fallon|March 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The latest Adonis cast in the part is 31-year-old model-turned-actor Jamie Dornan.
Meet Jamie Dornan: ’50 Shades of Grey's' New Christian Grey|Kevin Fallon|October 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Then Calvin Klein aired a two-minute commercial featuring an Adonis flexing in underwear.
Oscars, the Super Bowl for Women & Other People’s Super Bowls|Kevin Fallon|February 22, 2013|DAILY BEAST

For a time he wrote criticism for Mawaqif, a publication founded by the Syrian poet (and perennial Nobel also-ran) Adonis.
Elias Khoury: Profile of the Essential Arab Novelist Today|Jacob Silverman|August 3, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Near me danced a lusty Adonis of five-and-forty, who was decidedly the best male performer of the party.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, Number 414, April, 1850|Various
The blood of Tammuz, Osiris, and Adonis reddened the swollen rivers which fertilized the soil.
Myths of Babylonia and Assyria|Donald A. Mackenzie
There is no direct evidence, however, to connect Tammuz's slayer with the boar which killed Adonis.
Myths of Babylonia and Assyria|Donald A. Mackenzie
Like the many variants of it found in other countries, it was probably founded on a form of the Tammuz-Adonis myth.
Myths of Babylonia and Assyria|Donald A. Mackenzie
But this legend was not followed by the other classical writers, who made the Anemone to be the flower of Adonis.
The plant-lore and garden-craft of Shakespeare|Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

British Dictionary definitions for Adonis

Adonis

/ (əˈdəʊnɪs) /

noun

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

a handsome young man

Word Origin for Adonis

C16: from Latin, via Greek Adōnis from Phoenician adōni my lord, a title of the god Tammuz; related to Hebrew Adonai

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

Cultural definitions for Adonis

Adonis

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

notes for Adonis

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