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

Derived 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

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

Like Icarus soaring toward the heavens, like Orpheus sneaking a peek over his shoulder, so too did the Hawk Tuah Girl test the Gods of the Zynternet with her own hubris by launching a cryptocurrency.

From Slate • Dec. 20, 2024

Orpheus is helped along the way by Dionysus, who likes humans and has decided that this is the project he needs to improve his own life.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 29, 2024

If Orpheus had not been there the Argonauts, too, would have left their bones on the Sirens’ island.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton