Molossian
Molossian noun: a member of the ancient Epirote ethnos which Olympias came from.
Noun
Molossian (plural Molossians)
- A member of the ancient Epirote ethnos which Olympias came from.
- A breed of large dog of classical antiquity native to Epirus, resembling a mastiff and used as a hunting dog and guard dog.
- But meanwhile a new grating was opened, and into the arena rushed, with mad speed and barking, whole packs of dogs,—gigantic, yellow Molossians from the Peloponnesus, pied dogs from the Pyrenees, and wolf-like hounds from Hibernia, purposely famished; their sides were lank, and their eyes bloodshot.1896, Henryk Sienkiewicz, chapter LV, in Jeremiah Curtin, transl., “Quo Vadis.” A Narrative of the Time of Nero., Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, page 432
- The hounds were Indian, Cretan or Locrian; there were also Molossians (mastiffs) and Spartans (big greyhounds).1975, Roger Longrigg, The History of Foxhunting, page 14
- Synonyms:
- Molossian dog, Molossian hound, Molossus
Adjective
Molossian (comparative more Molossian, superlative most Molossian)
- Of or relating to Molossia or Molossians.
Molossian meaning in Marathi
Molossian in Marathi
- person from Molossia
- मोलोस्सियन molossiyan
Examples of Molossian in a sentence
- One constituent spent an hour educating me on the history of pit bulls: the Molossians, the Mastiffs; the Greeks, Romans, Brits, Tibetans, and Germans; the crossbreeds.2012, Michael Bryant, 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Tragedy, and Hope, Viking:
- He loved dogs, indulged by Antius’ kennel composed of Neapolitan mastiffs and molossians, original Roman war dogs.2017, Mary Dove, “Quintus”, in The End of Seven, Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 194:
Synonyms of Molossian
- Molossian dog
- Molossian hound
- Molossus
Forms of Molossian
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | Molossians |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more Molossian |
| superlative | most Molossian |
Origin of Molossian
From Molossia + -n.
Questions about Molossian
- What does Molossian mean?
- Molossian means a member of the ancient Epirote ethnos which Olympias came from.
- What is Molossian in Marathi?
- Molossian in Marathi is मोलोस्सियन (molossiyan). See Molossian meaning in Marathi.
- How do you use Molossian in a sentence?
- One constituent spent an hour educating me on the history of pit bulls: the Molossians, the Mastiffs; the Greeks, Romans, Brits, Tibetans, and Germans; the crossbreeds.
- What part of speech is Molossian?
- Molossian can be a noun or an adjective.
- What is the plural of Molossian?
- The plural of Molossian is Molossians.
Words near Molossian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Molossian (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:
Cite this entry: “Molossian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/molossian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.