Meanings
plural naumachies
- obsoleteA place built to stage a mock sea-battle, or the show performed therein.First known use 17th c.
Lacedæmonians held their public banquets[…], plays, naumachies, places for sea-fights, theatres, amphitheatres able to contain 70,000 men, wherein they had several delightsome shows to exhilarate the people[…].
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 4
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna naval spectacle; a mock sea battle put on by the ancient Romans
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinnaumachia
- Middle Frenchnaumachie
- Englishnaumachy
From Middle French naumachie and its source, Latin naumachia.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
naumachy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naumachy
“naumachy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naumachy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “naumachy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/naumachy.
Source: naumachy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.