Thersites

American  

[ther-sahy-teez] / θərˈsaɪ tiz /

noun

1. (in theIliad ) a Greek who accused Agamemnon of greed and Achilles of cowardice during the Trojan War.

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Thersites British  

/ θəˈsaɪtiːz /

noun

1. the ugliest and most evil-tongued fighter on the Greek side in the Trojan War, killed by Achilles when he mocked him

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Example Sentences

The “scabrous” Thersites in Troilus and Cressida speaks with relentless, scene-stealing venom.

From The Guardian • Feb. 9, 2017

Impossible to imagine Lear’s Fool succeeding him or Thersites commanding the Greek army.

From The Guardian • Feb. 9, 2017

Thersites skulks away, silenced, his Iliadic cameo at an end—but his long literary career as self-appointed flayer of heroic vanities is just beginning.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 9, 2016

In Troilus and Cressida, the strangely comic character Thersites announces Ajax by saying “for, whosoever you take him to be, he is Ajax.”

From Time • Sep. 20, 2013

But the crowd vanished as quickly as they had come, leaving the burly Thersites, and two or three irresolute fellows of his tribe, standing within pistol range of my leveled rifle.

From Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark Continent by Headley, Joel Tyler