Meanings
- Ancient GreeceThe most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BCE, and the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue.
Upon its surface of bronze were elaborately wrought, in the still exquisite workmanship of Greece, reliefs of the Olympian games; […] they paused motionless, as if suddenly transformed into stone—lifeless, but lifelike, as one of the breathing wonders of Praxiteles.
1834, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in The Last Days of Pompeii. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […]; successor to Henry Colburn, →OCLC1 more example
The altar was adorned with the masterly sculptures of Praxiteles, who had, perhaps, selected from the favorite legends of the place the birth of the divine children of Latona, the concealment of Apollo after the slaughter of the Cyclops, and the clemency of Bacchus to the vanquished Amazons.
1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter X, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC
Origin
- Ancient GreekΠρᾱξῐτέλης
- LatinPrāxitelēs
- EnglishPraxiteles
Borrowed from Latin Prāxitelēs, from Ancient Greek Πρᾱξῐτέλης (Prāxĭtélēs).
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Latin Prāxitelēs
- PrāxitelēsAttic sculptor of the 4th C. BC
Polish Praksyteles, Praxiteles
- PraksytelesAttic sculptor of the 4th C. BC
- Praxitelesmain-belt asteroid
Cite this entry
Praxiteles. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Praxiteles
“Praxiteles.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Praxiteles. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Praxiteles,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Praxiteles.
Source: Praxiteles on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.