Myrmidon
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A soldier or a subordinate civil officer who executes orders of a superior without protest or pity (sometimes applied to bailiffs, constables, etc).
"Tobias (to Jonas Fogg, manager of a madhouse): "I will die ere I submit to you or your vile myrmidons.""
- 2 One of a fierce tribe or troop who accompanied Achilles, their king, in the Trojan War. Greek
"The Myrmidons were the soldiers of Achilles, in the Trojan war. From them all zealous and unscrupulous followers of a political chief are called by that name, down to this day. But the origin of the Myrmidons would not give one the idea of a fierce and bloody race, but rather of a laborious and peaceful one."
- 3 a follower who carries out orders without question wordnet
- 1 The ancestral hero of the Myrmidon tribe, son of Zeus and Eurymedusa. Greek
Example
More examples""What Myrmidon, or who / of stern Ulysses' warriors can withhold / his tears, to tell such things, as thou would'st have re-told?""
Etymology
From Myrmidon, from Latin Myrmidones, from Ancient Greek Μυρμιδόνες (Murmidónes).
From Latin Myrmidones, from Ancient Greek Μυρμιδόνες (Murmidónes), a tribe of warriors led by Achilles to the Trojan War. Folk etymology in Ovid's time derived the tribe's name from μυρμηδών (murmēdṓn, “ant-nest”), from μύρμηξ (múrmēx, “ant”)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.