Greek hero, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis: in the Iliad the foremost of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy. While he was a baby his mother plunged him into the river Styx, making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. After slaying Hector, he was killed by Paris who wounded him in the heel
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
A•chil•les
(ə kil′ēz),USA pronunciation n. [Class. Myth.] Ach•il•le•an
(ak′ə lē′ən, ə kil′ē-),USA pronunciation adj.
- Mythologythe greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and hero of Homer's Iliad. He killed Hector and was killed when Paris wounded him in the heel, his one vulnerable spot, with an arrow.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'Achilles' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Achilles heel
- Achilles reflex
- Achilles tendon
- Aeacides
- Aeacus
- Ajax
- Alcon
- Antilochus
- Asteropaeus
- Chiron
- Hector
- Iphianassa
- Iphition
- Memnon
- Mynes
- Myrmidon
- Neoptolemus
- Patroclus
- Peleus
- Penthesileia
- Polyxena
- Thersites
- Thetis
- Zeno of Elea
- achillea
- ankle jerk
- heroic age
- heroic verse
- phoenix