NYMPH
Dictionary entry overview: What does nymph mean?
• NYMPH (noun)
The noun NYMPH has 3 senses:
1. (classical mythology) a minor nature goddess usually depicted as a beautiful maiden
2. a larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly)
3. a voluptuously beautiful young woman
Familiarity information: NYMPH used as a noun is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
• NYMPH (noun)
Meaning:
(classical mythology) a minor nature goddess usually depicted as a beautiful maiden
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Context example:
the ancient Greeks believed that nymphs inhabited forests and bodies of water
Hypernyms ("nymph" is a kind of...):
Graeco-Roman deity; Greco-Roman deity (a deity of classical mythology)
Domain category:
classical mythology (the system of mythology of the Greeks and Romans together; much of Roman mythology (especially the gods) was borrowed from the Greeks)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nymph"):
Echo ((Greek mythology) a nymph who was spurned by Narcissus and pined away until only her voice remained)
dryad; wood nymph (a deity or nymph of the woods)
Daphne ((Greek mythology) a nymph who was transformed into a laurel tree to escape the amorous Apollo)
water nymph ((Greek mythology) any nymph of the water)
Asterope; Sterope ((Greek mythology) one of the 7 Pleiades)
Pleiades ((Greek mythology) 7 daughters of Atlas and half-sisters of the Hyades; placed among the stars to save them from the pursuit of Orion)
Oread ((Greek mythology) one of the mountain nymphs)
Hyades ((Greek mythology) 7 daughters of Atlas and half-sisters of the Pleiades; they nurtured the infant Dionysus and Zeus placed them among the stars as a reward)
Atlantides; Hesperides ((Greek mythology) group of 3 to 7 nymphs who guarded the golden apples that Gaea gave as a wedding gift to Hera)
Salmacis (nymph who merged with Hermaphroditus to form one body)
Meaning:
A larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("nymph" is a kind of...):
larva (the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose)
Meaning:
A voluptuously beautiful young woman
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
houri; nymph
Hypernyms ("nymph" is a kind of...):
adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))
