WISE MEN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Wise Men mean? 

• WISE MEN (noun)
  The noun WISE MEN has 1 sense:

1. (New Testament) the sages who visited Jesus and Mary and Joseph shortly after Jesus was born; the Gospel According to Matthew says they were guided by a star and brought gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh; because there were three gifts it is usually assumed that there were three of them

  Familiarity information: WISE MEN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WISE MEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(New Testament) the sages who visited Jesus and Mary and Joseph shortly after Jesus was born; the Gospel According to Matthew says they were guided by a star and brought gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh; because there were three gifts it is usually assumed that there were three of them

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

Magi; Wise Men

Instance hypernyms:

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Meronyms (members of "Wise Men"):

Balthasar; Balthazar; Caspar; Gaspar ((New Testament) one of the three sages from the east who came bearing gifts for the infant Jesus)

Melchior ((New Testament) one of the three sages from the east who came bearing gifts for the infant Jesus; usually represented as a king of Nubia)

Domain category:

New Testament (the collection of books of the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline and other epistles, and Revelation; composed soon after Christ's death; the second half of the Christian Bible)

 Context examples 

At last, however, his wise men said, “this will not do; the king must marry again, that we may have a queen.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He had a hard fight, for the wise men argued well, but he didn't know when he was beaten and stood to his colors like a man.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Our toil must be in silence, and our efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest strength.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)