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Philomela

American  
[fil-uh-mee-luh] / ˌfɪl əˈmi lə /

noun

  1. Classical Mythology. an Athenian princess who was raped by her brother-in-law Tereus and was subsequently avenged and transformed into a nightingale.

  2. (lowercase) philomel.


Philomela British  
/ ˌfɪləʊˈmiːlə /

noun

  1. Greek myth an Athenian princess, who was raped and had her tongue cut out by her brother-in-law Tereus, and subsequently was transformed into a nightingale See Procne

"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

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Reed also points to how quickly and straightforwardly Bitsy games can be self-published to a web page, not unlike Philomela for games made using Twine.

From The Verge Mar. 7, 2022

When she’s ready to give birth, Philomela flies to her side.

From New York Times Jan. 13, 2019

Like Philomela, in Greek mythology, she can neither sing nor speak.

From The New Yorker May 9, 2016

As Willard Spiegelman, the editor of Southwest Review and a respected critic in his own right, wrote recently about Burt’s tastes: “Yesterday’s meadow morphs into today’s High Line, Keats’s Philomela into Lady Gaga.”

From New York Times Sep. 16, 2012

The Roman writers who told the story somehow got the sisters confused and said that the tongueless Philomela was the nightingale, which was obviously absurd.

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

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