king lear
n · noun
Simple meaning
The Tragedy of King Lear, often shortened to King Lear, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kinglirSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɪŋlɪɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
n
The Tragedy of King Lear, often shortened to King Lear, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
A tragedy by William Shakespeare, named for the pseudohistorical king of Britannia Leir of Britain.
A 1971 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Kozintsev, based on William Shakespeare's play King Lear.
King Lear, Op. 137, is a film score composed by Dmitri Shostakovich for the 1971 film King Lear by Grigori Kozintsev, based on Shakespeare's tragedy.
A video production of William Shakespeare's 1606 play of the same name, directed by Michael Elliott.
Charles Bernard "King" Lear (January 23, 1891 – October 31, 1976) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played two seasons of Major League Baseball.
noun
The hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy who was betrayed and mistreated by two of his scheming daughters
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The Tragedy of King Lear, often shortened to King Lear, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
Used this way, king lear is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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