Word.ws English Dictionary

gorgon

Syllables: gor·gon/ˈɡɔːrɡən/

gorgon noun: a vicious female monster from Greek mythology with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. One of the three sisters: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale.

Noun

gorgon (plural gorgons)

  1. (Greek) A vicious female monster from Greek mythology with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. One of the three sisters: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale
  2. An intimidating, ugly, or disgusting woman; anything hideous or horrid.
    • I'll shrowd this Gorgon from all humane view.1670, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada
    • Swilling martinis and spewing venom, Phyllis is a particularly unappetizing gorgon, telling us at one point that an acquaintance of hers is aroused by the Heimlich maneuver.2005 July 1, Washington Post

Adjective

gorgon (not comparable)

  1. Like a gorgon; very ugly or terrifying.

Proper noun capitalized: Gorgon

Gorgon

  1. (obsolete) Synonym of Demogorgon (“a pagan god or demon”).
    • Uillain I tel thee, were that Tamburlaine
      As monſtrous as Gorgon, prince of Hel,
      The Souldan would not ſtart a foot from him.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
    Synonyms:
    Demogorgon

Synonyms of gorgon

Forms of gorgon

pluralgorgons

Plural of gorgon: gorgons

Origin of gorgon

From Middle English gorgon, from Latin Gorgō, from Ancient Greek Γοργώ (Gorgṓ), from γοργός (gorgós, “terrible”). Possibly from the same root as the Sanskrit word "garğ" (गर्जन), which is defined as a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast, thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia.

Words formed from gorgon

Questions about gorgon

What does gorgon mean?
Gorgon means a vicious female monster from Greek mythology with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. One of the three sisters: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale.
What part of speech is gorgon?
Gorgon can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce gorgon?
Gorgon is pronounced /ˈɡɔːrɡən/.
What is the plural of gorgon?
The plural of gorgon is gorgons.

Words near gorgon in the dictionary

  1. gorgious
  2. gorgière
  3. gorgières
  4. gorgolet
  5. gorgolets
  6. gorgon
  7. gorgonacean
  8. gorgonaceans
  9. gorgonaceous
  10. Gorgonean
  11. gorgoneia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gorgon (page history and authors); Gorgon (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gorgon.wav.

Cite this entry: “gorgon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gorgon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.