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View synonyms for protean

protean

[ proh-tee-uhn, proh-tee- ]

adjective

  1. readily assuming different forms or characters; extremely variable.
  2. changeable in shape or form, as an amoeba.
  3. (of an actor or actress) versatile; able to play many kinds of roles.
  4. (initial capital letter) of, relating to, or suggestive of Proteus.


protean

/ ˈprəʊtɪən; prəʊˈtiːən /

adjective

  1. readily taking on various shapes or forms; variable


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Other Words From

  • prote·an·ism noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of protean1

First recorded in 1590–1600; Prote(us) + -an

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Word History and Origins

Origin of protean1

C16: from Proteus

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Example Sentences

There seemed a sense that his blackness alone lent him a protean kind of wisdom, power, promise—hope, we might recall.

As you stare at the protean work, the massive, fake, ink landscape fools you.

All language is protean, a moment-in-time snap-shot of evolution in action.

Yet how, in this age of protean trends and indecipherable jargon, are we to draw the line?

Lupus is a protean disease that can cause inflammation in just about every part of the body, including the synovium.

Curiosity, thoughtless mirth, mock humility, and other symptoms of the protean vice are painted by a master.

Remains precisely the question: man feeling this protean capacity to grow a new organ: what organ?

Although matter is protean and its transformations limitless, there are certain changes which cannot be made.

The story of Proteus itself is Protean, and must be grasped in its essence through all its appearances.

Keats was often impatient of this Protean quality of his own mind.

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proteaProteas