Sophocles

American  

[sof-uh-kleez] / ˈsɒf əˌkliz /

noun

1. 495?–406? b.c., Greek dramatist.

---

Sophocles British  

/ ˈsɒfəˌkliːz, ˌsɒfəˈkliːən /

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

Sophocles himself might have approved the tragic symmetry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

Even Aristotle, who could be said to have launched literary criticism, set forth the precepts of tragedy by empirically studying the indelible examples of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024

In 441 B.C., the Athenian playwright Sophocles told a similar tale in “Antigone,” whose plot centers on an autocrat’s weaponization of a corpse killed in battle.

From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2024

Sophocles shows us in all his tragedies that humans are too enmeshed with each other to be ruled with any justice by an autocrat’s commands.

From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2024

The other two, Sophocles and Euripides, were a little younger.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton