Petronius

American

[pi-troh-nee-uhs] / pɪˈtroʊ ni əs /

noun

Gaius Gaius Petronius ArbiterArbiter Elegantiae, died a.d. 66?, Roman satirist.

Petronius British

/ pɪˈtrəʊnɪəs /

noun

Gaius (ˈɡaɪəs), known as Petronius Arbiter. died 66 _ad , Roman satirist, supposed author of the Satyricon, a picaresque account of the licentiousness of contemporary society

"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

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.

For more than a decade, Pirlo served as elite European soccer’s version of Petronius, the sport’s appointed arbiter of good taste.

From New York Times • May 6, 2022

This class of parasites was savagely parodied in the first-century satirical novel "Satyricon" by Gaius Petronius, written during the reign of Nero.

From Salon • Dec. 8, 2021

Let’s face it, the guy is in the tradition of, oh, let’s go all the way back, Aristophanes and Horace and Petronius and Jonathan Swift and Voltaire and Colbert.

From Slate • Jul. 19, 2018

But instead of being cowed, another gay Carnival group - Petronius - decided the key to survival was getting formal recognition like other krewes.

From Washington Times • Feb. 14, 2017

“I said that you would like Petronius best. He is a spoiled, two-faced brat who speaks out of both sides of his mouth.”

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023