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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Aristophanes

At one point he passes by “Cloudcuckoo-city,” high above the earth, and remarks: “I was put in mind of Aristophanes, a wise and truthful poet whose works are quite unreasonably distrusted.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Aristophanes, an accomplished Athenian playwright, won several dramatic competitions of his day.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022

In Plato’s “Apology,” the downfall of Socrates is blamed on Aristophanes, who in his play “The Clouds” had ridiculed Socrates as a charlatan, helping to turn public opinion against him.

From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 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

“You know, in ancient Greece, Aristophanes would write plays about how much of a dipshit Socrates was and perform them right there in Athens. Talk about cutthroat, right?”

From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King

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