Holofernes
noun
Ho·lo·fer·nes
ˌhä-lə-ˈfər-(ˌ)nēz 
ˌhō-
: a general of Nebuchadnezzar's who led an Assyrian army against Israel and was beheaded in his sleep by Judith
Examples of Holofernes in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Klimt is famous for his use of gold leaf in paintings such as The Kiss (1908), Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) and Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1901).
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Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Mar. 2025
Her works, such as Judith Slaying Holofernes, challenge traditional gender roles and highlight her mastery of light and composition.
14.
—Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 20 Jan. 2025
Decapitation was a Caravaggio speciality, hence his paintings of John the Baptist and Salome, the Gorgon Medusa, Judith and Holofernes, David and Goliath.
—airmail.news, 20 Apr. 2024
Like Flock, Motz is interested in the lore of female vengeance: Judith beheading Holofernes, Medea killing her sons to spite Jason, Clytemnestra stabbing Agamemnon in the bath.
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024
Creel revisits a final conversation with that ex just before bringing up a painting of Judith With the Head of Holofernes.
—Vulture, 4 Dec. 2023
The paintings tell the Old Testament story of Judith beheading Holofernes; one was made by a young Italian woman around 1612, the other by a gay Nigerian-American man in 2012.
—Brittanie Shey, Chron, 6 Apr. 2023
Her inspirations for the video range from Sally Potter’s Orlando (1992) and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975) to Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden (2016) and Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes.
—Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 19 May 2021
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Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Mar. 2025
Her works, such as Judith Slaying Holofernes, challenge traditional gender roles and highlight her mastery of light and composition.
14.
—Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 20 Jan. 2025
Decapitation was a Caravaggio speciality, hence his paintings of John the Baptist and Salome, the Gorgon Medusa, Judith and Holofernes, David and Goliath.
—airmail.news, 20 Apr. 2024
Like Flock, Motz is interested in the lore of female vengeance: Judith beheading Holofernes, Medea killing her sons to spite Jason, Clytemnestra stabbing Agamemnon in the bath.
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024
Creel revisits a final conversation with that ex just before bringing up a painting of Judith With the Head of Holofernes.
—Vulture, 4 Dec. 2023
The paintings tell the Old Testament story of Judith beheading Holofernes; one was made by a young Italian woman around 1612, the other by a gay Nigerian-American man in 2012.
—Brittanie Shey, Chron, 6 Apr. 2023
Her inspirations for the video range from Sally Potter’s Orlando (1992) and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975) to Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden (2016) and Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes.
—Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 19 May 2021
Cite this Entry
“Holofernes.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Holofernes. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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