Thersites

American  

[ther-sahy-teez] / θərˈsaɪ tiz /

noun

1. (in theIliad ) a Greek who accused Agamemnon of greed and Achilles of cowardice during the Trojan War.

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Thersites British  

/ θəˈsaɪtiːz /

noun

1. the ugliest and most evil-tongued fighter on the Greek side in the Trojan War, killed by Achilles when he mocked him

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Example Sentences

This may be true, but Thersites, who escapes death at Hector’s hands by self-abasement, bids us look even farther afield for the resonance of this dark drama.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 9, 2016

In Troilus and Cressida, the strangely comic character Thersites announces Ajax by saying “for, whosoever you take him to be, he is Ajax.”

From Time • Sep. 20, 2013

Simon Russell Beale makes the central character more coherent than ever before, and more vital, more important, more all-encompassing – part Thersites, part corporation smoothie, part Lear.

From The Guardian • Jul. 21, 2012

In 1981 Jonathan Miller let him loose on the role of Thersites in his Troilus and Cressida for the BBC.

From The Guardian • May 28, 2010

I.135 In Troilus and Cressida, III, iii, 256, Thersites says of the wit of Ajax: "It lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not show without knocking."

From The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar by Black, Ebenezer Charlton