Shelley

American  

[shel-ee] / ˈʃɛl i /

noun

1. Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) 1797–1851, English author (wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley).

2. Percy Bysshe 1792–1822, English poet.

3. a male or female given name.

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Shelley British  

/ ˈʃɛlɪ /

noun

1. Mary ( Wollstonecraft ) (ˈwʊlstənˌkrɑːft). 1797–1851, British writer; author of Frankenstein (1818); the daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, she eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley

2. Percy Bysshe (bɪʃ). 1792–1822, British romantic poet. His works include Queen Mab (1813), Prometheus Unbound (1820), and The Triumph of Life (1824). He wrote an elegy on the death of Keats, Adonais (1821), and shorter lyrics, including the odes "To the West Wind" and "To a Skylark" (both 1820). He was drowned in the Ligurian Sea while sailing from Leghorn to La Spezia

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Example Sentences

When speaking on his birthday, Carol Pendrigh, a committee member of the Southend Branch of the RNA, described Shelley as "not just a veteran, he's a true local hero".

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

North Carolina resident Shelley Hughes was more ambivalent.

From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026

Los Alamitos 7, Edison 6: Rowan Shelley had two hits and four RBIs in the eight-inning victory.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026

She reimagines the Bride character with the same wild chaos and directorial scope that this movie swims in; the same initiative with which Shelley wrote her novel.

From Salon • Mar. 8, 2026

Among their cherished authors are Sartre, Burroughs, Shelley, and Poe.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz