Aristophanes

American  

[ar-uh-stof-uh-neez] / ˌær əˈstɒf əˌniz /

noun

1. 448?–385? b.c., Athenian comic dramatist.

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Aristophanes British  

/ ˌærɪˈstɒfəˌniːz /

noun

1. ?448–?380 _bc , Greek comic dramatist, who satirized leading contemporary figures such as Socrates and Euripides. Eleven of his plays are extant, including The Clouds, The Frogs, The Birds, and Lysistrata

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Aristophanes Cultural  

1. An ancient Greek dramatist, the author of such comedies as The Clouds and Lysistrata.

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Other Word Forms

• Aristophanic adjective

Example Sentences

“Playwrights like Aristophanes were there to make fun of the rulers but also to make our hearts bleed about the tragedy of humankind,” Ms. Evangelatos said.

From New York Times • Oct. 6, 2022

The show, based on the Aristophanes comedy, originally had been done 20 years earlier in the Yale University swimming pool.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 26, 2021

I don’t know if a revival of “Hamilton” 2,000 years from now is going to resonate with people, whereas Aristophanes still does.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2021

The most famous work by Aristophanes is “The Frogs,” whose plot centers on a competition between the dead poets Euripides and Aeschylus over whose tragic plays are more inspiring for Athenians.

From Washington Post • Jul. 4, 2021

But in the absence of surviving notation of the music performed with the plays of Aristophanes and others, we must once again resign ourselves to frustration and speculation.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall