Thermopylae

[ther-mop-uh-lee]

noun

a pass in E Greece, between the cliffs of Mt. Oeta and the Gulf of Lamia: Persian defeat of the Spartans 480 b.c.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for thermopylae

Contemporary Examples of thermopylae

Foreign-policy experts rush to compare Libya to Bosnia, the Punic Wars, Iraq, Kosovo, Thermopylae, and so forth.
The Horrible Libya Hypocrisies
Leslie H. Gelb
March 21, 2011

Historical Examples of thermopylae

When they came to the pass of Thermopylae, they found a new cause for fear.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8
Charles H. Sylvester
Let us take, as example, Leonidas and his devotion at Thermopylae.
The Aesthetical Essays
Friedrich Schiller
Near the Warm Wells—the Thermopylae—a terrible battle was fought.
The Story of Mankind
Hendrik van Loon
It was to have been the Thermopylae of Mormondom—but it wasn't.
The Complete Works of Artemus Ward
Charles Farrar Browne (AKA Artemus Ward)
They were first stopped at Thermopylae by Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans.
Thoughts on Man
William Godwin

British Dictionary definitions for thermopylae

Thermopylae

noun

(in ancient Greece) a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea linking Locris and Thessaly: a defensible position on a traditional invasion route from N Greece; scene of a famous battle (480 bc) in which a greatly outnumbered Greek army under Leonidas fought to the death to delay the advance of the Persians during their attempted conquest of Greece

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

Word Origin and History for thermopylae

Thermopylae

from Greek thermos "hot" (see thermal) + pylai, plural of pyle "gate; mountain pass, entrance into a region" (see pylon). In reference to nearby hot sulfur springs. Often simply hai pylai "the gates."