Hobbes

American

[hobz] / hɒbz /

noun

Thomas, 1588–1679, English philosopher and author.

Hobbes British

/ hɒbz /

noun

Thomas. 1588–1679, English political philosopher. His greatest work is the Leviathan (1651), which contains his defence of absolute sovereignty

"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

Other Word Forms

Hobbesian

noun

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

Hobbes

"It's like if the Manhattan Project announced the nuclear bomb within a cute little Calvin and Hobbes cartoon."

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

On a campus where expectations outpace reality, the 75 minutes Mr. Mansfield devoted to Machiavelli or Hobbes felt special.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

For Hobbes, the state of nature was so violent and chaotic that rational individuals would readily consent to the authority of an absolute monarch to establish law and order.

From Slate ● May 9, 2024

Claiming to "oppose today's ruling," Lake called on the actual governor, Democrat Katie Hobbes and "the State Legislature to come up with an immediate common sense solution."

From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2024

Hobbes stands for the relativists and Boyle for the realists.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023