adjective
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of or relating to the Greek astronomer Ptolemy or to his conception of the universe
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of or relating to the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt from the death of Alexander the Great (323 bc ) to the death of Cleopatra (30 bc )
Etymology
Origin of Ptolemaic
1665–75; < Greek Ptolemaikós of Ptolemy, equivalent to Ptolema ( îos ) Ptolemy + -ikos -ic
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.
The two-foot-tall antiquity, most likely chiseled during ancient Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty, was a rare find.
From New York Times • May 30, 2024
Cleopatra was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and served as the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was founded by a Macedonian Greek general named Ptolemy I Soter.
From Salon • Apr. 20, 2023
Cleopatra’s death ushered in the start of Roman rule in Egypt as it marked the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
It added that the discoveries would expand knowledge of the site over a period of more than two millennia up to the Ptolemaic period.
From Reuters • Mar. 25, 2023
Though Copernicus’s system didn’t agree with the data completely—the circular orbits were wrong, though the heliocentric idea was correct—it was much simpler than the Ptolemaic system.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
