Achilles

[ uh-kil-eez ]
/ əˈkɪl iz /

noun Classical Mythology.

the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and hero of Homer's Iliad. He killed Hector and was killed when Paris wounded him in the heel, his one vulnerable spot, with an arrow.

OTHER WORDS FROM Achilles

Ach·il·le·an [ak-uh-lee-uh n, uh-kil-ee-] /ˌæk əˈli ən, əˈkɪl i-/, adjective

Example sentences from the Web for achillean

British Dictionary definitions for achillean

Achilles
/ (əˈkɪliːz) /

noun

Greek myth Greek hero, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis: in the Iliad the foremost of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy. While he was a baby his mother plunged him into the river Styx making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. After slaying Hector, he was killed by Paris who wounded him in the heel

Derived forms of Achilles

Achillean (ˌækɪˈliːən), adjective

Cultural definitions for achillean

Achilles
[ (uh-kil-eez) ]

In classical mythology, the greatest warrior on the Greek side in the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). When he was an infant, his mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable. During the Trojan War, he quarreled with the commander, Agamemnon, and in anger sulked in his tent. Eventually Achilles emerged to fight and killed the Trojan hero Hector, but he was wounded in the heel by an arrow and died shortly thereafter.

notes for Achilles

People speak of an “Achilles' heel” as the one weak or sore point in a person's character.

notes for Achilles

The Achilles tendon runs from the heel to the calf.

notes for Achilles

Achilles is the hero of Homer's Iliad.

notes for Achilles

The phrase “wrath of Achilles” refers to the hero's anger, which caused so much destruction that Homer refers to it as his main theme in the first line of the Iliad.