lethe

/ˈliːθi/

lethe noun: forgetfulness of the past; oblivion.

Noun (1)

lethe (usually uncountable, plural lethes)

(usually) Forgetfulness of the past; oblivion.
- So in the Lethe of thy angry ſoule,
  Thou drowne the ſad remembrance of thoſe wrongs,
  Which thou ſuppoſest I haue done to thee.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
(usually) Dissimulation.
- Till that the conquering Wine hath ſteep't our ſenſe,
  In ſoft and delicate Lethe.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- What does it mean to say that the stream of silence originates in lethe? It means, above all, that the stream has its source (Quelle) in that which has not yet been said and which must remain unsaid: the "unsaid."1980, Joseph J. Kockelmans, On Heidegger and Language, Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 241

lethe (usually uncountable, plural lethes)

(obsolete, rare, usually) Death.
- Pardon me Iulius, here was't thou bay'd braue Hart,
  Heere did'ſt thou fall, and heere thy Hunters ſtand
  Sign'd in thy Spoyle, and Crimſon'd in thy Lethee.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Lethe

(Greek) The personification of oblivion, daughter of Eris.
(Greek) The river which flows through Hades from which the souls of the dead drank so that they would forget their time on Earth.
- No wonder these mortal Folks have so many Complaints, […] if they were dead now, and to be settled here for ever, they'd be damn'd before they'd make such a Rout come over—“But care, I suppose, is thirsty; and till they have drench’d themselves with Lethe, there will be no quiet among ’em” however...1740, David Garrick, Lethe: or Aesop in the Shade, published 1782
- My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains / My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, / Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains / One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:1820, John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale

குழப்ப நிலை, நினைவற்ற நிலை

plural	lethes

From Latin Lēthē, from Ancient Greek Λήθη (Lḗthē, “forgetfulness”).

Possibly influenced by Latin lētum (“killing”).

From Latin Lēthē, from Ancient Greek Λήθη (Lḗthē).

What does lethe mean?: Lethe means forgetfulness of the past; oblivion.
What is lethe in Tamil?: Lethe in Tamil is குழப்ப நிலை, நினைவற்ற நிலை. See Lethe meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is lethe?: Lethe can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lethe?: Lethe is pronounced /ˈliːθi/.
What is the plural of lethe?: The plural of lethe is lethes.

Adapted from Wiktionary: lethe (page history and authors); Lethe (page history and authors); lethe (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: 2026-09-02

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

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