ADONIS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Adonis mean? 

• ADONIS (noun)
  The noun ADONIS has 3 senses:

1. any handsome young man

2. annual or perennial herbs

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

  Familiarity information: ADONIS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ADONIS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any handsome young man

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("adonis" is a kind of...):

adult male; man (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Annual or perennial herbs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Adonis; genus Adonis

Hypernyms ("Adonis" is a kind of...):

magnoliid dicot genus (genus of dicotyledonous flowering plants regarded as among the most primitive of extant angiosperms)

Meronyms (members of "Adonis"):

Adonis annua; pheasant's-eye (Eurasian herb cultivated for its deep red flowers with dark centers)

Holonyms ("Adonis" is a member of...):

buttercup family; crowfoot family; family Ranunculaceae; Ranunculaceae (a family of Ranunculaceae)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

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

Hypernyms ("Adonis" is a kind of...):

daemon; demigod (a person who is part mortal and part god)

Domain category:

Greek mythology (the mythology of the ancient Greeks)

 Context examples 

I looked at the picture. A man, with a preposterously wicked face, his right hand pressed dramatically to his heart, was falling backward to the floor. Confronting him, with a face that was a composite of destroying angel and Adonis, was a man holding a smoking revolver.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)