Myrmidon
Americannoun
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Classical Mythology. one of the warlike people of ancient Thessaly who accompanied Achilles to the Trojan War.
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(lowercase) a person who executes without question or scruple a master's commands.
noun
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Greek myth one of a race of people whom Zeus made from a nest of ants. They settled in Thessaly and were led against Troy by Achilles
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(often not capital) a follower or henchman
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Myrmidon
Middle English, from Latin Myrmidones (plural), from Greek Myrmidónes; Myrmidon def. 1 first recorded in 1425-75, and Myrmidon def. 2 first recorded in 1625-50
Explanation
A myrmidon is someone who will do whatever you say. A schoolyard bully often has a myrmidon for a best friend — someone who is sure to never point out that it's wrong to hassle other kids. To pronounce myrmidon correctly, say "MUR-muh-don." A celebrity who hates it when people challenge her ideas probably has only myrmidons for friends. A myrmidon can also be specifically someone who unquestioningly carries out the violent orders of a boss. The word originated with the Greek Myrmidones, the followers of Achilles during the Trojan War, who were said to have been transformed into men from ants, which in Greek is myrmex.
Vocabulary lists containing myrmidon
2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 3
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Great Expectations
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Oliver Twist
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Yet, the longlisting of Eng's previous book five years ago led to Myrmidon starting to be taken seriously as a force to be reckoned with.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 10, 2012
He would surely agree, as his panel has this year chosen a Booker shortlist on which half the titles come from tiny independents: Salt, And Other Stories and Myrmidon.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 26, 2012
Three of the longlisted titles are published by tiny independent presses: Salt, which publishes Moore, And Other Stories, which publishes Levy, and Myrmidon Books, which publishes Eng.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2012
The Myrmidon spearfighters returned, they say, under the son of lionhearted Akhilleus; and so did Poias’ great son, Philoktetes.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
The Myrmidon studied him for what seemed about three days.
From Pagan Passions by Stanley, Robert
When summoned to the war against Troy, he set sail at once with his Myrmidones in fifty ships.
From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg
Aeschylus’s lost The Myrmidons also appeared to have had sexual and romantic love, between Achilles and Patroclus, at its heart.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 10, 2016
Grassy knolls teemed with minotaurs, cyborgs, warlocks, Myrmidons, figures clothed only in metallic body paint or Pan-like ivy tendrils.
From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2015
He is delighted to interrogate Charon, the boatman taking him across the Styx, wanting to find out more about what happened in Aeschylus' lost play, Myrmidons.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 24, 2010
One Homer served to immortalize the story of 100,000 Myrmidons before the city of Troy.
From Time Magazine Archive
So Patroclus put on the splendid armor all the Trojans knew and feared, and led the Myrmidons, Achilles’ men, to the battle.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
