Sophocles

American  

[sof-uh-kleez] / ˈsɒf əˌkliz /

noun

1. 495?–406? b.c., Greek dramatist.

---

Sophocles British  

/ ˈsɒfəˌkliːz /

noun

1. ?496–406 _bc , Greek dramatist; author of seven extant tragedies: Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Trachiniae, Electra, Philoctetes , and Oedipus at Colonus

---

Sophocles Cultural  

1. An ancient Greek poet, author of Oedipus Rex and Antigone. He is counted, with Euripides and Aeschylus, among the great Greek authors of tragedies.

---

Other Word Forms

• Sophoclean
  adjective

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Sophocles

Electra/Persona is a new play written and directed by Benedict Andrews that combines the Sophocles tragedy Electra with Ingmar Bergman's film Persona.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Fernández’s adaptation is anxious to turn tragedy into a sermon, offering theatergoers moral solace where Sophocles leaves his audience in a contemplative state of stunned silence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

No inducement, it seems, can get him to do this, but Sophocles finds a way to persuade him to go.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026

I thought what might follow would be Mr. Icke’s most provocative—and logical and interesting—departure from Sophocles, an ending of a more ambiguous and less gruesome kind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

Geographical knowledge in the classical period of fifth to fourth centuries bce—the times of Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Sophocles, and Aristotle—was not much broader than in Homer’s day, four hundred years earlier.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro