SPHINX (sphinges)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: sphinges   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Sphinx mean? 

• SPHINX (noun)
  The noun SPHINX has 3 senses:

1. an inscrutable person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret

2. (Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's body; daughter of Typhon

3. one of a number of large stone statues with the body of a lion and the head of a man that were built by the ancient Egyptians

  Familiarity information: SPHINX used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPHINX (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An inscrutable person who keeps his thoughts and intentions secret

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("sphinx" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's body; daughter of Typhon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Sphinx" is a kind of...):

mythical creature; mythical monster (a monster renowned in folklore and myth)

Domain category:

Greek mythology (the mythology of the ancient Greeks)

Sense 3

Meaning:

One of a number of large stone statues with the body of a lion and the head of a man that were built by the ancient Egyptians

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("sphinx" is a kind of...):

statue (a sculpture representing a human or animal)

 Context examples 

And to add confusion to confusion, there was the servant, an unceasing menace, that appeared noiselessly at his shoulder, a dire Sphinx that propounded puzzles and conundrums demanding instantaneous solution.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was a People's Course, the lecture on the Pyramids, and Jo rather wondered at the choice of such a subject for such an audience, but took it for granted that some great social evil would be remedied or some great want supplied by unfolding the glories of the Pharaohs to an audience whose thoughts were busy with the price of coal and flour, and whose lives were spent in trying to solve harder riddles than that of the Sphinx.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness—a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of the grimness of infallibility.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Amy looked relieved, but naughty Jo took her at her word, for during the first call she sat with every limb gracefully composed, every fold correctly draped, calm as a summer sea, cool as a snowbank, and as silent as the sphinx.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)