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
Those same experts also expend a lot of energy explaining how the final Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt and a Hellenistic descendent might also be a Black person.
From Salon • May 11, 2023
Alexandria in Egypt, founded by Alexander himself in 331 BCE, was the capital of the Ptolemaic kingdom and the largest Hellenistic city, with a population that reached one million.
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
The true magnitude of Ptolemaic power is still discernible in Polybius’s history, however.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
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.
