Homeric
/həʊˈmɛrɪk
/adjective
1Relating to or in the style of Homer or the epic poems ascribed to him.Through the centuries the Homeric epics have influenced writers and philosophers of many different countries....
- Much more recently, Harold Bloom has written eloquently on the Homeric qualities of Tolstoy's last novel, ‘Hadji Murad’.
- However, in contrast to the Homeric poems, where the actions of mythical heroes provided lessons for human behaviour, tragedy does not yield easy answers.
1.1Relating to Bronze Age Greece as described in the Homeric poems: the mists of the Homeric age...
- The crux of this issue rests on whether or not there are sufficient similarities in the structures of Mycenaean and Homeric society to warrant comparison.
- Our beginning is Greece, Homeric Greece perhaps.
- Since for the Greeks of the Homeric age existence on its barest terms would have been intolerable, they showed a heroic artistic instinct in turning their battle-bound lives into a spectacle.
1.2Epic and large-scale: some of us exert a Homeric effort...
- One report described the goal as Homeric.
- As for the celebratory dishes they are almost of Homeric proportions and some of them little known elsewhere in Greece.
- That's a Homeric achievement in a strongman contest, where events are designed to test pressing, hoisting, pulling, pushing and crushing power, combined with full-body strength, all of which take years to develop.
Synonyms
epic, large-scale, grand, monumental, vast, heroic, impressive, imposing
Origin
Via Latin from Greek Homērikos, from Homēros (see Homer).