trojan horse
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A large hollow wooden figure of a horse left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan War.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
trohjuhnhawrsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɹoʊdʒənˈhɔɹs
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.
noun
Greek mythology
A large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan War
Greek mythology
The hollow wooden horse by which the Greeks allegedly gained access to Troy during the Trojan War.
figuratively
A subversive person or device placed within the ranks of the enemy.
computer security
A malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software.
verb
To introduce slyly, to sneak in, to subvert.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan War
Used this way, trojan horse is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.