Promethean
adjective
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As some versions of the story go in Greek mythology, Prometheus (one of the Titan giants) modeled humans from clay and then taught them agriculture and all the arts of civilization. He also stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. So inventive was he that anything that bears the stamp of creativity and originality can still be called Promethean. Zeus, however, had wanted the human race to perish, so Prometheus' actions were also disobedient. Hence Promethean can also mean defiant of authority or limits. As punishment for his disobedience, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock where an eagle daily tore at his liver. Thus, any suffering on a grand scale can also be called Promethean - though this sense is not as common as the others.
Examples of Promethean in a Sentence
Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 6 June 2025
That is why Candiani spent five years on something of a Promethean task: Coreva.
—Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 23 May 2025
Recorded in a two-week burst not long before his 30th birthday, Cold Visions spiraled between euphoria and Promethean torment, pushing past nihilism and onwards to ego death.
—Meaghan Garvey, Pitchfork, 25 Feb. 2025
The rancorous, reptilian, essentially unknowable right—rising from the wastes like Trump, Putin, or Sauron—receives the Promethean gift of historical agency.
—Matthew Karp, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024
As Earth’s inhabitants suffer through what may wind up being the hottest year on record, there’s a Promethean spark of hope.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Aug. 2023
Farming the Genetic Frontier Supporters see the biotechnology revolution in agriculture as a Promethean step forward, whereas critics see it as the start down a slope to futuristic disaster.
—Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2024
The Promethean power of these systems is unlocking languages and dialects that have been unspoken for millennia.
—Jamie Merisotis, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
Many of them are here already in the pages of The Earth Transformed, obscured only by the long Promethean shadow that Frankopan attaches to the lonely figure of Man.
—Ben Ehrenreich, The New Republic, 10 May 2023
Cite this Entry
“Promethean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Promethean. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.
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