Polonius
noun
Po·lo·ni·us
pə-ˈlō-nē-əs 
: a garrulous courtier and father of Ophelia and Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web
Sententious Polonius is now a church lady, Rabby (Benja Kay Thomas); her children are Opal (Adrianna Mitchell) and Larry (Calvin Leon Smith) instead of Ophelia and Laertes.
—
Jesse Green, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2023
The cast is uniformly great, particularly Nikki Crawford's electric Tedra and Benja Kay Thomas' Rabby, a liquor-loving woman of God who's a stand-in for the much less-fun Polonius.
—Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 13 Apr. 2023
Jesse Green, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2023
The cast is uniformly great, particularly Nikki Crawford's electric Tedra and Benja Kay Thomas' Rabby, a liquor-loving woman of God who's a stand-in for the much less-fun Polonius.
—Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 13 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Polonius.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
circa 1601, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near Polonius
Cite this Entry
“Polonius.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Polonius. Accessed 3 Jun. 2023.
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