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Socrates

[sok-ruh-teez]
noun
  1. 469?–399 b.c., Athenian philosopher.
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Related formsan·ti-Soc·ra·tes, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for socrates

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • "The name of Socrates recalls Alcibiades to my mind," rejoined Anaxagoras.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • Again what city ever received Plato's or Aristotle's laws, or Socrates' precepts?

    The Praise of Folly

    Desiderius Erasmus

  • Socrates said, “Let him that would move the world move first himself.  ”

    Self-Help

    Samuel Smiles

  • And had he not quoted Socrates in that last paragraph, it would have been expunged.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

  • The main discussion is carried on by Socrates, Glaucon, and Adeimantus.

British Dictionary definitions for socrates

Socrates

noun
  1. ?470–399 bc, Athenian philosopher, whose beliefs are known only through the writings of his pupils Plato and Xenophon. He taught that virtue was based on knowledge, which was attained by a dialectical process that took into account many aspects of a stated hypothesis. He was indicted for impiety and corruption of youth (399) and was condemned to death. He refused to flee and died by drinking hemlock
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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
socrates in Culture

Socrates

[(sok-ruh-teez)]

An ancient Greek philosopher who was the teacher of Plato.

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Note

Socrates said that an oracle of the gods had pronounced him the wisest of all people, because he knew how little he knew.

Note

The Socratic method of teaching proceeds by question and answer as opposed to lecture.

Note

When Socrates was an old man, the citizens of Athens (see also Athens) condemned him to death, alleging that he denied the reality of the gods and corrupted the youth of Athens. Socrates calmly drank the poison he was given — hemlock — and died a noble death.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.