Icarus

American  

[ik-er-uhs, ahy-ker-] / ˈɪk ər əs, ˈaɪ kər- /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. Also Ikaros a youth who attempted to escape from Crete with wings of wax and feathers but flew so high that his wings melted from the heat of the sun, and he plunged to his death in the sea.

2. Astronomy. an asteroid whose eccentric orbit brings it closer to the sun than any other known asteroid.

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Icarus British  

/ ˈaɪ-, ˈɪkərəs /

noun

1. Greek myth the son of Daedalus, with whom he escaped from Crete, flying with wings made of wax and feathers. Heedless of his father's warning he flew too near the sun, causing the wax to melt, and fell into the Aegean and drowned

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Icarus Scientific  

/ ĭk′ər-əs /

1. A small asteroid with a highly eccentric, Earth-crossing orbit that takes it to within 30 million km (19 million mi) of the Sun, or closer than the planet Mercury. In 1968 Icarus approached within 6 million km (4 million mi) of the Earth.

2. See more at asteroid

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Icarus Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the son of Daedalus. Icarus died tragically while using artificial wings, invented by his father, to escape from the Labyrinth. When Icarus flew too close to the sun, it melted the wax that held the wings together, and he fell into the sea.

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Example Sentences

They spoke recently by video about their efforts to capture the rise and fall of a modern Icarus.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

Former MP Ben Bradshaw, who was in the cabinet with Mandelson, likened him to "a sort of Icarus type figure".

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026

Like Icarus, whose wings of wax carried him too close to the sun, the U.S. economy sometimes flies so high that its wax wings melt.

From Salon • Jul. 30, 2025

Like Icarus soaring toward the heavens, like Orpheus sneaking a peek over his shoulder, so too did the Hawk Tuah Girl test the Gods of the Zynternet with her own hubris by launching a cryptocurrency.

From Slate • Dec. 20, 2024

I could see the Zeppelin poster of clasperless Icarus hanging over his bed and the framed picture of Richard Feynman on the wall.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen