Xanthippe
Americannoun
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flourished late 5th century b.c., wife of Socrates.
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a scolding or ill-tempered wife; a shrewish woman.
noun
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the wife of Socrates, proverbial as a scolding and quarrelsome woman
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any nagging, peevish, or irritable woman
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both Jenna and Liz use this phrase liberally throughout 30 Rock, and Kimmy does as well when she argues with Xanthippe during a party.
From Newsweek ● Mar. 15, 2015
First off, Xanthippe, Jacqueline’s angsty and challenging Daria-esque stepdaughter, is named for the ancient Greek character described to be antagonist.
From Newsweek ● Mar. 15, 2015
Mary Todd Lincoln, he suggests, was no neurotic Xanthippe forever needling her husband.
From Time Magazine Archive
These influences get their longest airing in a novella with the intimidating title Puttermesser and Xanthippe.
From Time Magazine Archive
If report is true he had a scolding wife–the name of Xanthippe has become a proverb–and yet what more noble than Socrates’ rebuke to his son when he behaved undutifully towards his mother?
From Shadow Mountain by Coolidge, Dane
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
