Iliad

//ˈɪliˌæd// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A specific version, edition, translation, or copy of the above-mentioned Homeric text.
  2. 2
    Any long tragic story.

    "[As they] listened to the tale he unfolded, some glow of pity must have possessed them; for it was an Iliad of herculean struggle against absolute disaster, ending with the bitter news of his grandfather's death."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A famous ancient Greek epic poem about the Trojan War, attributed to Homer.

Example

More examples

""The wine red sea" is a term from The Iliad, which implies ancient humans may have had a different concept of color prior to the modern age. In some languages "blue" is a modern construction in language, possibly because blue dye is difficult to formulate."

Etymology

From Latin Iliadis, genitive of Ilias, from Ancient Greek Ἰλιάς (Iliás), the poem about Ἴλιον (Ílion), an alternative name for Troy. By surface analysis, Ili- + -ad.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.