Sophocles

American  

[sof-uh-kleez] / ˈsɒf əˌkliz /

noun

1. 495?–406? b.c., Greek dramatist.

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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

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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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Sophoclean
  adjective

Example Sentences

Sophocles himself might have approved the tragic symmetry.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

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

On Saturday, she denied Putin’s avowed Christian faith, in words so close to Antigone’s that they could have been written by Sophocles.

From Salon • Feb. 25, 2024

He was the first to print editions of Aristotle, Thucydides, Herodotus and Sophocles; the first to use italic type; and the first to use the semicolon in its modern sense.

From New York Times • Jan. 17, 2024

It has no rival in Greek tragedy except the four plays of Sophocles about Oedipus and his children.

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