achillean means resembling or relating to Achilles, the hero of the Iliad. It carries an Arena rating of 1617, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, achillean ranks #1,427 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,970 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,359 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,769 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
achillean is pronounced /əˈkɪliən/.
Why “achillean” is a great word
Resembling the legendary Greek warrior Achilles, particularly in possessing an overwhelming strength or passionate fury that is fatally undercut by a single, hidden vulnerability. From the Latin *Achillēus* ("of Achilles") and the English suffix *-an* ("belonging to, relating to"). Unlike "Herculean," which connotes triumphant, laborious strength, or "Sapphic," a term of specific affection, Achillean centers on a tragic flaw and mortal limits. It is the impeccably forged armor with the one known chink at the heel, the black rage that eclipses reason before the walls of a besieged city, and the profound, private grief that follows—the terrible cost of a nature that is godlike in everything except its capacity to be wounded.
Etymology
From Latin Achillēus + -an. By surface analysis, Achilles + -ean.
adj
- Resembling or relating to Achilles, the hero of the Iliad.e.g.“Guyon subdues these Achillean affections through his own power; but they break out again as Cymochles lapses into lust and Pyrochles burns in the idle lake.” — 1959 September, A.C. Hamilton, “Spenser's Treatment of Myth”, in ELH, volume 26, number 3:
- Resembling or relating to Achilles, the hero of the Iliad.; Invincible with only one small weakness (an Achilles heel), which becomes one's downfall.
- Resembling or relating to Achilles, the hero of the Iliad.; Guided by emotional motives, especially rage, rather than reason.
- Of or relating to Achilles Tatius, a Roman-era Greek writer.
- Pertaining to the Achilles tendon.e.g.“Tendon-reflexes, as a rule, remain intact, except the Achillean one, which is frequently either absent or lowered.” — 1890, The London Medical Recorder - Volume 3, page 481:
- Of or relating to sexual or romantic intimacy between men, supposedly in the style of Achilles' relationship with Patroclus.e.g.“Historically, there was indeed an Achillean, homosexual flavor of the declassé bachelorhood out of which Hitler and others formed the advance guard of National Socialism.” — 1980, Douglas Fowler, A Reader's Guide to Gravity's Rainbow, page 169:
noun
- A fighter on the side of Achilles in the Trojan war; an Achaean.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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