Socratic
adj, noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A proponent of the philosophy or methods of Socrates.
- 1 Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the philosopher Socrates or his philosophy or methods. not-comparable
"His closest companions were handsome young boys who worshipped him and his game, whom Bill sought to remake in his own image. He had no family, no real heirs, and so his boys were his spiritual sons as well as his heirs in tennis. They were his lovers as well. Theirs was a relationship of a Socratic sort, a pedagogical eroticism between an adolescent protege which ingaged them in a mutual project of spiritual and physical development."
- 2 Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the philosopher Socrates or his philosophy or methods.; Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Socratic irony or the Socratic method. not-comparable, specifically
"a Socratic question"
- 1 of or relating to Socrates or to his method of teaching wordnet
Example
More examples"The end of which there were two little sketches of rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic method."
Etymology
From Latin Sōcratic(us), from Ancient Greek Σωκρατικός (Sōkratikós, “of Socrates”), from Σωκράτης (Sōkrátēs, “Socrates”). By surface analysis, Socrat(es) + -ic.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.