Pygmalion

[ pig-mey-lee-uhn, -meyl-yuhn ]

/ pɪgˈmeɪ li ən, -ˈmeɪl yən /

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noun

Classical Mythology. a sculptor and king of Cyprus who carved an ivory statue of a maiden and fell in love with it. It was brought to life, in response to his prayer, by Aphrodite.

(italics) a comedy (1912) by George Bernard Shaw.

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Words nearby Pygmalion

pyelonephritis, pyelonephrosis, pyemia, pygidium, pygmaean, Pygmalion, Pygmy, pygmy chimpanzee, pygmy elephant, pygmy glider, pygmy hippopotamus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Pygmalion in a sentence

The pulse of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, about a man so in love with an illusion he can’t see the reality before him, thrums inside every person who’s obsessed with movies, but the Pygmalion dreams it’s drawn from are universal.
What If a Robot Was Your Perfect Match? I'm Your Man Explores an AI Love Affair|Stephanie Zacharek|September 24, 2021|Time
This premise was already tired by the time “She’s All That” came around — the movie was loosely based on “My Fair Lady,” after all, itself a take on “Pygmalion” — but teen comedies don’t always need to avoid tropes to succeed.
‘He’s All That’ is not all that, not even a little bit of that|Sonia Rao|August 27, 2021|Washington Post
On January 29, 1999—exactly 15 years ago—a modern day adaptation of Pygmalion was thrust on an unsuspecting public.
‘She’s All That' 15th Anniversary: Cast and Crew Reminisce About the Making of the ‘90s Classic|Marlow Stern|January 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The notion of handcrafting a flawless spouse was nothing new—the Pygmalion myth dates back to ancient Greece.
The Man Who Tried to Raise a Wife|Mythili Rao|April 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Pygmalion, king of Cyprus, was a sworn bachelor, and had shunned the society of women for many years.
Stories of Old Greece and Rome|Emilie Kip Baker
But Gilbert never soared so high either in his philosophy or in his art as in Pygmalion and Galatea.
The English Stage|Augustin Filon
To this statue Venus, at Pygmalion's request, gives life; but she withholds the power of loving.
A Book of Burlesque|Willam Davenport Adams
In "Pygmalion" we are asked to suppose that Venus is indignant with the sculptor for his lack of susceptibility to female charms.
A Book of Burlesque|Willam Davenport Adams
Pygmalion, before his perfect statue, is not successful,—for it might live.
Ellen Terry and Her Sisters|T. Edgar Pemberton

British Dictionary definitions for Pygmalion

Pygmalion

/ (pɪɡˈmeɪlɪən) /

noun

Greek myth a king of Cyprus, who fell in love with the statue of a woman he had sculpted and which his prayers brought to life as Galatea

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

Cultural definitions for Pygmalion (1 of 2)

Pygmalion

[ (pig-may-lee-uhn) ]

In classical mythology, a sculptor who at first hated women but then fell in love with a statue he made of a woman. He prayed to Venus that she would find him a woman like the statue. Instead, Venus made the statue come to life.

notes for Pygmalion

The play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, adapts this theme: a professor trains a girl from the gutter to speak and behave like a lady, and then he and his new creation become attached to each other. This play became the basis for the musical comedy My Fair Lady.

Cultural definitions for Pygmalion (2 of 2)

Pygmalion

[ (pig-mayl-yuhn, pig-may-lee-uhn) (1913) ]

A play by George Bernard Shaw, about a professor, Henry Higgins, who trains a poor, uneducated girl, Eliza Doolittle, to act and speak like a lady. Shaw based his story on a tale from Greek mythology about a sculptor who carves a statue of a woman and falls in love with it (see under “Mythology and Folklore”).