proteus

1. 1.

   (Greek mythology) a prophetic god who served Poseidon; was capable of changing his shape at will

   BroaderGreek deity

   Greek mythology

2. 2.

   type genus of the Proteidae

   Synonymsgenus Proteus

   Broaderamphibian genus

   Part ofProteidae

Other forms of proteus

plural

proteuses·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about proteus

What does proteus mean?

proteus means "(Greek mythology) a prophetic god who served Poseidon; was capable of changing his shape at will". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in proteus?

proteus has 3 syllables: pro-te-us. The stress falls on "pro".

What is another word for proteus?

Close synonyms include genus Proteus. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is proteus a common word?

proteus is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.