Charybdis
/kəˈɹɪbdɪs/
Charybdis proper noun: a dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast.
Proper noun
Charybdis
- A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast.
- I have never yet been able to steer my lovers through the Scylla of presence, or the Charybdis of absence.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XII. Lady Marchmont’s Journal.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 85
- A personification of the above whirlpool as a female monster.
- Any dangerous whirlpool.
- …that night, wee ſailed merrily by the Maſcarenas, a Charybdis in 21 degrees, var.13 and 17 minutes…1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some yeares travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique
- The tide here sets in alternately from N. to S. and from S. to N., which causes the whirlpool of Galofaro, the Charybdis of the ancients.1832, James Bell, A system of geography, popular and scientific
Origin of Charybdis
Borrowed from Ancient Greek Χάρυβδις (Khárubdis).
Words formed from Charybdis
Questions about Charybdis
- What does Charybdis mean?
- Charybdis means a dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast.
- What part of speech is Charybdis?
- Charybdis is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Charybdis?
- Charybdis is pronounced /kəˈɹɪbdɪs/.
Words near Charybdis in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Charybdis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Charybdis.wav.
Cite this entry: “Charybdis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/charybdis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.