Promethean
adjective /prəˈmiːθiən/ — Daringly original — creating something at great personal cost.
Definition
Daringly original or creative; boldly defiant, especially in pursuit of knowledge or creation; of or relating to Prometheus.
Beyond the definition
Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to humanity — an act of creation that cost him eternal torment (chained to a rock, his liver eaten daily by an eagle). Promethean describes creation or ambition at that scale of consequence: the inventor, the revolutionary, the artist who changes everything and pays a price for it.
Origin & history
From Prometheus — the Titan of Greek mythology who created humanity from clay and stole fire from the gods. His name is often interpreted as 'forethought'. Mary Shelley subtitled Frankenstein 'The Modern Prometheus'.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
Her Promethean ambition to redesign the city's transport network eventually destroyed her career.
The Promethean scale of the project — one person, seven years, no funding — astonished everyone who heard about it.
There is something Promethean about the best science: it brings light, and someone always pays.
Synonyms
boldly creative, visionary, daring, revolutionary
Antonyms
conventional, cautious, derivative
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Ruins and a modern city
An adult stands on a hill looking out over ancient ruins in the foreground and a modern city in the distance.
The modern city, born of bold innovation, represents the Promethean spirit. It illustrates the daring, original human defiance of nature’s limits in the pursuit of knowledge, creation, and building a world that was once considered impossible.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration