Dragon Meaning
/ˈdɹæɡən/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA legendary serpentine or reptilian creature.
nounA mythical reptilian or serpentine creature., In European mythologies, a gigantic beast, typically reptilian with leathery bat-like wings, lion-like claws, scaly skin and a lizard-like body, often a monster with fiery breath.
Sentence Examples
I have always wanted to see a dragon, but dragons are not real creatures.
The animal in the top left-hand corner is meant to be a dragon.
What's more, our first battle is to defeat that dragon!
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The knight fought the fire-breathing ____ that guarded the treasure.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The brave knight fought a fire-breathing ____ in the old children's story.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English dragoun, borrowed from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō(n), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon”), probably from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see clearly”). Displaced Old English wyrm, whence modern worm. Mostly displaced Old English draca (whence modern drake)—from the same Latin source, as are Draco, Dracon, dracone, and dragoon.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Medea for the loue of Iaſon, taught him how to tame the fire breathing braſſ feeted Bulls, and kill the mighty dragon that kept the golden fleece[.]"
— 1632, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Henry Cryps, page 548:
"But as every well-brought-up prince was expected to kill a dragon, and rescue a princess, the dragons grew fewer and fewer till it was often quite hard for a princess to find a dragon to be rescued from."
— c. 1900, Edith Nesbit, The Last of the Dragons:
"Before daylight, when the dragon flew home to sleep, he had burned up the hall and even the throne of the Geatish king."
— 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 41:
"They pitched the dragon / over the cliff-top, let tide's flow / and backwash take the treasure-minder."
— 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 98:
"These tapestries were magnificently figured with golden dragons; and as the serpentine bodies gleamed and shimmered in the increasing radiance, each dragon, I thought, intertwined its glittering coils more closely with those of another."
— 1913, Sax Rohmer, chapter XIII, in The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The knight fought the fire-breathing ____ that guarded the treasure.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The brave knight fought a fire-breathing ____ in the old children's story.