Achilles

American  

[uh-kil-eez] / əˈkɪl iz /

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and hero of Homer's Iliad. He killed Hector and was killed when Paris wounded him in the heel, his one vulnerable spot, with an arrow.

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Achilles British  

/ əˈkɪliːz /

noun

1. Greek myth Greek hero, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis: in the Iliad the foremost of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy. While he was a baby his mother plunged him into the river Styx making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. After slaying Hector, he was killed by Paris who wounded him in the heel

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Achilles Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the greatest warrior on the Greek side in the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). When he was an infant, his mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable. During the Trojan War, he quarreled with the commander, Agamemnon, and in anger sulked in his tent. Eventually Achilles emerged to fight and killed the Trojan hero Hector, but he was wounded in the heel by an arrow and died shortly thereafter.

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Discover More

Achilles is the hero of Homer's Iliad.

People speak of an “Achilles' heel” as the one weak or sore point in a person's character.

The phrase “wrath of Achilles” refers to the hero's anger, which caused so much destruction that Homer refers to it as his main theme in the first line of the Iliad.

The Achilles tendon runs from the heel to the calf.

Other Word Forms

• Achillean
  adjective

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Achilles

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has called satellite networks “an Achilles heel of modern societies.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

He has not played competitively since 2024 after rupturing an Achilles tendon in March 2025 and having back surgery last October.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Tight end George Kittle, who sustained a torn right Achilles tendon last season, is expected to play.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

When the gas was switched off in March, Zainab was recovering from Achilles surgery and using crutches.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

In his most famous puzzle, “The Achilles,” Zeno proves that swift Achilles can never catch up with a lumbering tortoise that has a head start.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

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