Athens

American  

[ath-inz] / ˈæθ ɪnz /

noun

1. Greek Athenai. a city in and the capital of Greece, in the southeastern part.

2. Greater Athens, a metropolitan area comprising the city of Athens, Piraeus, and several residential suburbs.

3. a city in northern Georgia.

4. a city in southern Ohio.

5. a town in northern Alabama.

6. a town in southern Tennessee.

7. a town in eastern Texas.

8. any city that is compared to Athens, especially as a cultural center.

   the Athens of the Midwest.

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Athens British  

/ ˈæθɪnz /

noun

1. Greek name: Athinai, Athina. the capital of Greece, in the southeast near the Saronic Gulf: became capital after independence in 1834; ancient city-state, most powerful in the 5th century _bc ; contains the hill citadel of the Acropolis. Pop: 3 238 000 (2005 est)

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Athens ¹ Cultural  

1. Capital of Greece in east-central Greece on the plain of Attica, overlooking an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. Named after its patron goddess, Athena, Athens is Greece's largest city and its cultural, administrative, and economic center.

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Athens ² Cultural  

1. A leading city of ancient Greece, famous for its learning, culture, and democratic institutions. The political power of Athens was sometimes quite limited, however, especially after its defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. Pericles was a noted ruler of Athens. (See also under “World Geography.”)

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As the cultural center of Greece, ancient Athens was home to influential writers and thinkers such as Aristophanes, Euripides, Socrates, and Plato.

Its principal landmark is the Acropolis, on which stands the remains of the Parthenon and other buildings.

In the fifth century b.c., Athens was one of the world's most powerful and highly civilized cities (see also under “World History to 1550”).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Athens

Left-back Penrice, 27, has impressed with Rangers since arriving on loan from AEK Athens, while Blackburn Rovers midfielder Montgomery, 22, has started all but one Championship match this season.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

Compared with neighboring areas such as Iberia in south-western Europe or Athens in the eastern Mediterranean, archaeological evidence was often fragmentary.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

I suggest, unoriginally, that what we call the West emerged from, and is sustained by, the continuing tension between Athens and Jerusalem, not either in isolation from the other.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Local media had questioned why the game wasn't being played in Greece's capital city Athens.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Aunt Carrie was taught to speak cultured at a private school in Athens run by a French woman, Madame Joubert.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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