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• hamlet
  hamlet

  noun

  a small village.
• Hamlet
  Hamlet

  noun

  a tragedy (first printed 1603) by Shakespeare.

hamlet

¹ American  

[ham-lit] / ˈhæm lɪt /

noun

1. a small village.

2. British. a village without a church of its own, belonging to the parish of another village or town.

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hamlet ² American  

[ham-lit] / ˈhæm lɪt /

noun

• hamlet,
  plural
• hamlets
  plural

1. any of various sea basses of the family Serranidae, found in the warm waters of the western Atlantic Ocean, especially the Nassau grouper.

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Hamlet ³ American  

[ham-lit] / ˈhæm lɪt /

noun

1. (italics) a tragedy (first printed 1603) by Shakespeare.

2. the hero of this play, a young prince who avenges the murder of his father.

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hamlet British  

/ ˈhæmlɪt /

noun

1. a small village or group of houses

2. (in Britain) a village without its own church

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Hamlet Cultural  

1. A tragedy by William Shakespeare. The king of Denmark has been murdered by his brother, Claudius, who then becomes king and marries the dead king's widow. The ghost of the dead king visits his son, Prince Hamlet, and urges him to avenge the murder. In the course of the play, Hamlet, a scholar, slowly convinces himself that he must murder Claudius. The play ends with a duel between Hamlet and the courtier Laertes, and the death by poison of all the principal characters.

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Synonym Usage

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The character Hamlet has come to symbolize a person whose thoughtful nature is an obstacle to quick and decisive action.

Hamlet, Shakespeare's longest play, contains several soliloquies — speeches in which Hamlet, alone, speaks his thoughts. Many lines from the play are very familiar, such as “Alas, poor Yorick!”; “Frailty, thy name is woman!”; “Get thee to a nunnery”; “The lady doth protest too much”; “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio”; “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”; “There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow”; “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”; and “To be, or not to be: that is the question.”

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hamlet
  plural
• hamlets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hamlet¹

1300–50; Middle English hamelet < Middle French, equivalent to hamel (diminutive of ham < Germanic; see home) + -et -et

Origin of hamlet²

First recorded in 1950–55; origin obscure

Explanation

That small settlement you pass through along a country road is not just a cluster of houses. It’s a hamlet. You may be familiar with Shakespeare’s famous play describing the plight of the doomed prince Hamlet. Remember the meaning of the common noun hamlet this way: Picture an alternate Hamlet cheerfully living in a small village in the country (a hamlet), without family tension or the need to avenge his father. Does that help?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hamlet Hamlet hamlets

Patterson's trial last year drew podcasters, film crews and true crime fans to a courthouse in the rural town of Morwell, a sedate hamlet in Victoria better known for its prize-winning roses.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

But if you drive the river road past Monte Rio and the historic but touristy shops at Duncans Mills, you reach the coastal hamlet of Jenner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

About 150 firefighters were working to quell the fire in a hamlet called Bedar.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C.—These days, you have to watch where you step in parts of this picturesque hamlet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026

At the end of July 1966, Howard Fuller spoke before black residents of Woodland, North Carolina, an isolated and impoverished rural hamlet in the northeastern corner of the state.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Across the street, they transformed a Taco Bell into a Hamburger Hamlet and erected awnings for other recognizable former businesses, like the restaurant Mario’s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

It is because I remembered that in the McLean Hamlet, Dunsinane Court branches off from Birnam Wood Drive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

It was also celebrating the news that Wigan Council had granted The Hamlet a 25-year lease after a long campaign.

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

The photo actually is of Kevin Kline in his celebrated performance as Hamlet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

Seeing my reflection in a bowl of water or a looking glass, I thought how amazed Hamlet would be to see me transformed from a wild girl into a lady.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

But authorities have lifted all evacuation orders in the border region since Wednesday, allowing the residents of several Belgian hamlets and a town on the German border to return home.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

The camps are classified as social housing, but are effectively tiny hamlets comprising several homes.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

Her family moved more than 10 times, from Chicago to working-class hamlets in southern New Jersey.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025

Baldy Village and other mountain hamlets — and more than 1,000 structures are still threatened by the fire, officials said Wednesday night.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2024

Once they reached the valley floor, the going was faster and they made good time, cantering through verdant green-woods and sleepy little hamlets, past orchards and golden wheat fields, splashing across a dozen sunlit streams.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin