Plato

American  

[pley-toh] / ˈpleɪ toʊ /

noun

1. 427–347 b.c., Greek philosopher.

2. a walled plain in the second quadrant of the face of the moon, having a dark floor: about 60 miles (96 kilometers) in diameter.

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Plato ¹ British  

/ ˈpleɪtəʊ /

noun

1. ?427–?347 _bc , Greek philosopher: with his teacher Socrates and his pupil Aristotle, he is regarded as the initiator of western philosophy. His influential theory of ideas, which makes a distinction between objects of sense perception and the universal ideas or forms of which they are an expression, is formulated in such dialogues as Phaedo, Symposium, and The Republic. Other works include The Apology and Laws

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Plato ² British  

/ ˈpleɪtəʊ /

noun

1. a crater in the NW quadrant of the moon, about 100 km in diameter, that has a conspicuous dark floor

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Plato Cultural  

1. An ancient Greek philosopher, often considered the most important figure in Western philosophy. Plato was a student of Socrates and later became the teacher of Aristotle. He founded a school in Athens (see also Athens) called the Academy. Most of his writings are dialogues. He is best known for his theory that ideal Forms or Ideas, such as Truth or the Good, exist in a realm beyond the material world. In fact, however, his chief subjects are ethics and politics. His best-known dialogues are the Republic, which concerns the just state, and the Symposium, which concerns the nature of love.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pro-Plato
  adjective
• anti-Plato
  adjective

Example Sentences

The team has also released interactive catalogs and tools so other scientists can explore the results and identify promising targets for follow-up observations using ground-based telescopes and future missions such as ESA's PLATO.

From Science Daily • May 3, 2026

Birmingham has responsibility for the design and delivery of much of the asteroseismology pipeline for PLATO, the results of which will be used by thousands of researchers around the world.

From Science Daily • Mar. 26, 2024

PLATO, like an infant, exhibited “surprise” when it, say, viewed an object that moved through another one without ricocheting backward upon impact.

From Scientific American • Jul. 11, 2022

By March 1973 Umpleby was penning articles in local papers, advocating for the “community use” of PLATO, fearing that soon the system was going to be swallowed up by corporations.

From Slate • Jan. 2, 2019

My friend," the tourist said, "I fear you're really in the way to Quite change the proverb, and be friends will neither Truth nor PLATO.

From The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe by Parton, James