Orpheus

American  

[awr-fee-uhs, -fyoos] / ˈɔr fi əs, -fyus /

noun

1. Greek Legend. a poet and musician, a son of Calliope, who followed his dead wife, Eurydice, to the underworld. By charming Hades, he obtained permission to lead her away, provided he did not look back at her until they returned to earth. But at the last moment he looked, and she was lost to him forever.

2. (italics) a ballet (1947) with music by Stravinsky and choreography by Balanchine.

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Orpheus British  

/ ˈɔːfɪəs, -fjuːs /

noun

1. Greek myth a poet and lyre-player credited with the authorship of the poems forming the basis of Orphism. He married Eurydice and sought her in Hades after her death. He failed to win her back and was killed by a band of bacchantes

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Other Word Forms

• Orphean
  adjective

Example Sentences

The opera offers a modern twist on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Diego seeks to summon his late wife on Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

I’m not just talking about Orpheus retrieving Eurydice, Dante’s “Inferno” and Virgil’s “Aeneid.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025

Other highlights include opera incorporating circus performers for a fusion of music and acrobatics in Orpheus And Eurydice, and Breaking Bach - where hip-hop meets 18th-century period instruments.

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2025

Gluck’s version of the Orpheus story was commissioned for a celebration of the Hapsburg emperor Francis I in 1762.

From New York Times • May 24, 2024

Orpheus Fisher wanted to marry Marian, but she was too busy with her singing career to consider a serious romantic involvement.

From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman