A phoenix is an imaginary bird which, according to ancient stories, burns itself to ashes every five hundred years and is then born again.
2. singular noun
If you describe someone or something as a phoenix, you mean that they return again after seeming to disappear or be destroyed.
[literary]
Out of the ashes of the economic shambles, a phoenix of recovery can arise.
phoenix in British English
or US phenix (ˈfiːnɪks)
noun
1.
a legendary Arabian bird said to set fire to itself and rise anew from the ashes every 500 years
2.
a person or thing of surpassing beauty or quality
Word origin
Old English fenix, via Latin from Greek phoinix; identical in form with Greek Phoinix Phoenician, purple
Phoenix in British English1
(ˈfiːnɪks)
nounWord forms: Latin genitivePhoenicis (ˈfiːnɪˌsɪz)
a constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Grus and Eridanus
Phoenix in British English2
(ˈfiːnɪks)
noun
a city in central Arizona, capital city of the state, on the Salt River. Pop: 1 388 416 (2003 est)
Phoenix in American English
(ˈfinɪks)
capital of Ariz., in the SC part, near the Salt River: pop. 1,321,000
Word origin
in allusion to the phoenix
phoenix in American English
(ˈfinɪks)
noun
1. Egyptian Mythology
a beautiful, lone bird which lives in the Arabian desert for 500 or 600 years and then sets itself on fire, rising renewed from the ashes to start another long life: a symbol of immortality
2. [P-]
a S constellation between Eridanus and Grus
Word origin
altered (infl. by L) < OE & OFr fenix < L phoenix < Gr phoinix, phoenix, dark-red, Phoenician, akin to phoinos, blood-red, deadly
Examples of 'phoenix' in a sentence
phoenix
But that hadn't stopped the evil from rising as a phoenix from the ashes.