Lessing

American  

[les-ing] / ˈlɛs ɪŋ /

noun

1. Doris (May), 1919–2013, British novelist in Africa; born in Persia; Nobel Prize in Literature 2007.

2. Gotthold Ephraim 1729–81, German critic and dramatist.

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Lessing British  

/ ˈlɛsɪŋ /

noun

1. Doris ( May ). born 1919, English novelist and short-story writer, brought up in Rhodesia: her novels include the five-novel sequence Children of Violence (1952–69), The Golden Notebook (1962), a series of science-fiction works (1979–83), The Good Terrorist (1985), and The Sweetest Dream (2001). Nobel prize for literature 2007

2. Gotthold Ephraim (ˈɡɔthɔlt ˈeːfrɑɪm). 1729–81, German dramatist and critic. His plays include Miss Sara Sampson (1755), the first German domestic tragedy, and Nathan der Weise (1779). He is noted for his criticism of French classical dramatists, and for his treatise on aesthetics Laokoon (1766)

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Example Sentences

When a journalist informed the novelist Doris Lessing she had won the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature, she responded: "Oh, Christ."

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2025

There is one book that changed my life — it didn’t wreck my life — “The Golden Notebook” by Doris Lessing.

From Salon • May 30, 2025

Lizzie Gottlieb came to know Heller, Lessing and some of her father’s other authors well, but says she had never met Caro until he turned 80.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 20, 2022

The heightened and sometimes hasty reactions on Tuesday night were a warning, Mr. Lessing said.

From New York Times • Nov. 16, 2022

Lessing J. Rosenwald even sent Reshevsky to college.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady