cyclops means A one-eyed giant from Greek and Roman mythology. It carries an Arena rating of 1309, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cyclops ranks #164 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #2,586 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #2,940 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,131 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
cyclops is pronounced /ˈsaɪˌklɑps/.
Why “cyclops” is a great word
A one-eyed giant from Greek and Roman mythology, or any one-eyed creature or person. From Latin cyclōps, from Ancient Greek Κύκλωψ (Kúklōps), from κύκλος (kýklos, "circle, round") + ὤψ (ṓps, "eye"), literally meaning "round-eyed." Unlike "giant" (a being of generic enormity) or "Polyphemus" (the specific, named monster of the Odyssey), a cyclops is defined by its singular, central horror: the single orb. It is the lumbering silhouette at the mouth of a cave, the lighthouse beam sweeping the black water, the camera lens staring from a door—the grotesque geometry of a face built around a single point of focus. The cyclops sees absolutely, and so is doomed to see incompletely.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cyclōps, from Ancient Greek Κύκλωψ (Kúklōps, “Cyclops ['round eyes']”). The sense for copepods is a semantic loan from translingual Cyclops.
noun
- A one-eyed giant from Greek and Roman mythology.
- A one-eyed creature of any species.
- A person with only one working eye.
- Any copepod in the genus Cyclops.
- A small magnifying lens in the crystal of a watch to aid in reading the date.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.