pre-Socratic

UK/ˌpɹiːsɒˈkɹætɪk/

pre-Socratic adjective: existing in Ancient Greece before the flourishing of the philosopher Socrates (circa 469–399 BCE).

Adjective

pre-Socratic (not comparable)

(historical) Existing in Ancient Greece before the flourishing of the philosopher Socrates (circa 469–399 BCE).

pre-Socratic (plural pre-Socratics)

(historical) Any of the pre-Socratic philosophers, viz. Thales (circa 624–546 BCE), Anaximander (circa 610–546 BCE), Anaximenes (circa 585–525 BCE), Pythagoras (circa 576–495 BCE), Xenophanes (circa 570–480 BCE), Heraclitus (circa 535–475 BCE), Parmenides (early-5ᵗʰ century BCE), Anaxagoras (circa 500–428 BCE), Empedocles (circa 490–430 BCE), and Democritus (circa 460–370 BCE).
- Hers is the philosophy that stood before the speculations of the presocratics; she is the "Holy Mother Church" which Descartes challenged when he cut the umbilical cord between philosophy and the Church and split reality into the res externa and the res cogitans.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 97

From pre- + Socratic.

What does pre-Socratic mean?: Pre-Socratic means existing in Ancient Greece before the flourishing of the philosopher Socrates (circa 469–399 BCE).
What part of speech is pre-Socratic?: Pre-Socratic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce pre-Socratic?: Pre-Socratic is pronounced /ˌpɹiːsɒˈkɹætɪk/ (UK).

Adapted from Wiktionary: pre-Socratic (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

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