Adonis — English Dictionary

Proper noun

1. A beautiful young man loved by Aphrodite.

   Usage

   • Greek

   Examples

   The Phœnician Adonis was identical with Tammūz.

   More examples (2)

   1900, James Frazer, The Golden Bough, Chapter 42: Osiris and the Sun, A strong reason for interpreting the death of Osiris as the decay of vegetation rather than as the sunset is to be found in the general, though not unanimous, voice of antiquity, which classed together the worship and myths of Osiris, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus, and Demeter, as religions of essentially the same type. The consensus of ancient opinion on this subject seems too great to be rejected as a mere fancy. So closely did the rites of Osiris resemble those of Adonis at Byblus that some of the people of Byblus themselves maintained that it was Osiris and not Adonis whose death was mourned by them.

   1921, Jessie Weston, From Ritual to Romance, Chapter X: The Secret of the Grail (1) - The Mysteries, As Sir J. G. Frazer has before now pointed out, there are parallel and over-lapping forms of this cult, the name of the god, and certain details of the ritual, may differ in different countries, but whether he hails from Babylon, Phrygia, or Phoenicia, whether he be called Tammuz, Attis, or Adonis, the main lines of the story are fixed, and invariable. Always he is young and beautiful, always the beloved of a great goddess; always he is the victim of a tragic and untimely death, a death which entails bitter loss and misfortune upon a mourning world, and which, for the salvation of that world, is followed by a resurrection.

2. A male given name from Ancient Greek.

   Usage

   • Rare

3. A surname.

4. An unincorporated community in Polk County, Missouri, United States.

5. An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States.

Noun

1. A beautiful man.

Noun

1. (Greek mythology) a handsome youth loved by both Aphrodite and Persephone

   Broader terms

   daemondemigod

   Examples

   when Adonis died Zeus decreed that he should spend winters in the underworld with Persephone and spend summers with Aphrodite