Macbeth

American  

[muhk-beth, mak-] / məkˈbɛθ, mæk- /

noun

1. died 1057, king of Scotland 1040–57.

2. (italics) a tragedy (1606?) by Shakespeare.

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Macbeth British  

/ mæk-, məkˈbɛθ /

noun

1. died 1057, king of Scotland (1040–57): succeeded Duncan, whom he killed in battle; defeated and killed by Duncan's son Malcolm III

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Macbeth Cultural  

1. A tragedy by William Shakespeare, in which the Scottish nobleman Macbeth, misled by the prophecy of three witches and goaded on by his wife, murders the king and usurps the throne. Well-known lines from the play include “Lay on, Macduff” and “Out, damned spot!”

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Example Sentences

Ibsen’s tragic anti-heroine shares character DNA with Medea and Lady Macbeth.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2026

Citing Oedipus, Macbeth and Raskolnikov, he points out that literary epiphanies always come too late.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

Placing herself in harm’s way numerous times throughout Season 2, Wednesday even lands herself in a coma at one point, and while she’s out, Morticia sits at her bedside and reads from Macbeth.

From Salon • Sep. 6, 2025

"It has shades of Macbeth," criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro told the BBC.

From BBC • Jul. 12, 2025

Macbeth is totally delusional and has hallucinations of ghosts and a pesky floating dagger.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman