adjective
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of or relating to the Greek astronomer Ptolemy or to his conception of the universe
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of or relating to the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt from the death of Alexander the Great (323 bc ) to the death of Cleopatra (30 bc )
Etymology
Origin of Ptolemaic
1665–75; < Greek Ptolemaikós of Ptolemy, equivalent to Ptolema ( îos ) Ptolemy + -ikos -ic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The two-foot-tall antiquity, most likely chiseled during ancient Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty, was a rare find.
From New York Times • May 30, 2024
Her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, was a king of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and undoubtedly of European descent.
From Salon • Apr. 20, 2023
It added that the discoveries would expand knowledge of the site over a period of more than two millennia up to the Ptolemaic period.
From Reuters • Mar. 25, 2023
“From the Ptolemaic period onward, they used huge quantities of resin,” Dr. De Cupere said.
From New York Times • Jan. 18, 2023
Though Copernicus’s system didn’t agree with the data completely—the circular orbits were wrong, though the heliocentric idea was correct—it was much simpler than the Ptolemaic system.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
