Mephistopheles

[mef-uh-stof-uh-leez]

noun

Medieval Demonology. one of the seven chief devils and the tempter of Faust.

Also Me·phis·to

[muh-fis-toh] /məˈfɪs toʊ/.

Related formsMeph·is·to·phe·li·an, Meph·is·to·phe·le·an

[‐stuh-fee-lee-uh n] /‐stəˈfi li ən/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mephistopheles

ogre, barbarian, beast, devil, archangel, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub, Lucifer, demon, Antichrist, rogue, scamp, imp, dastard, adversary, brute, knave, villain, Satan, hellion

Examples from the Web for mephistopheles

Contemporary Examples of mephistopheles

But these kids make for wan enemies, after the Mephistopheles Berezovsky almost too small to pick on.
Putin Needs an Enemy After Berezovsky’s Death
Peter Pomerantsev
March 25, 2013

Historical Examples of mephistopheles

Mephistopheles, or Mrs. Felix Lorraine; one or the other, perhaps both.
Vivian Grey
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
Possibly, like Mephistopheles in Faust, he may retaliate on his adversaries.
The Republic
Plato
Corporal Penington was, I believe, as usual, the inspiring Mephistopheles of the affair.
Memoirs
Charles Godfrey Leland
"My dear fellow, I am not Mephistopheles," laughed the narrow-eyed doctor.
The Doctor of Pimlico
William Le Queux
Mephistopheles himself is the most interesting of all Devils.
Visions and Revisions
John Cowper Powys

British Dictionary definitions for mephistopheles

Mephistopheles

Mephisto (məˈfɪstəʊ)

noun

a devil in medieval mythology and the one to whom Faust sold his soul in the Faust legend

Derived FormsMephistophelean or Mephistophelian (ˌmɛfɪstəˈfiːlɪən), adjective

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

Word Origin and History for mephistopheles

Mephistopheles

1590s, the evil spirit to whom Faust sold his soul in the German legend, from German (1587), of unknown origin. According to the speculation of eminent Göthe scholar K.J. Schröer (1886) it is a compound of Hebrew mephitz "destroyer" + tophel "liar" (short for tophel sheqer, literally "falsehood plasterer;" cf. Job xiii:4). Klein writes that the names of devils in the Middle Ages "are in most cases derived from Hebrew."

mephistopheles in Culture

Mephistopheles

[(mef-i-stof-uh-leez)]

In the drama Faust by Goethe, a devil who tempts Faust into selling his soul to the powers of darkness. Mephistopheles also appears, with his name spelled Mephistophilis, in the sixteenth-century English play Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe.