medusa

medusa — noun

1. In Greek mythology, the only mortal sister among the three Gorgons — a monster w

1.nounB2
Definition

In Greek mythology, the only mortal sister among the three Gorgons — a monster with living snakes for hair whose gaze could turn anyone who looked at her into stone, finally killed by the hero Perseus.

Example

Perseus used his shiny shield as a mirror to avoid looking straight at Medusa.

classical myth narrative: shield used as mirror

Haruto drew Medusa with pointed fangs and green snakes coiling from her scalp.

Common collocations
  • Medusa's head
  • Medusa's gaze
  • the myth of Medusa
  • slay Medusa
Synonyms
  • Gorgon

    Gorgon is the broader category; Medusa is one specific Gorgon, the only mortal one

Common Mistakes

Medusa is the name for all three Gorgon sisters.
Medusa is the name of only one Gorgon
the mortal one. Her immortal sisters were Stheno and Euryale.' — Medusa refers to a specific individual, not the whole group.

2. The umbrella-shaped, free-swimming adult stage of a jellyfish or related sea cre

2.nounC1
Definition

The umbrella-shaped, free-swimming adult stage of a jellyfish or related sea creature, during which the animal reproduces sexually — distinct from the earlier polyp stage that stays fixed to a surface.

Example

A single medusa drifted beneath the pier, its clear bell pulsing in the morning sun.

singular countable noun: a medusa

Chiamaka spotted a tiny medusa washed up on the wet sand after high tide.

Common collocations
  • medusa stage
  • medusa form
  • medusa buds
  • free-swimming medusa
Antonyms
  • polyp

    the attached, tube-shaped asexual stage in the same life cycle

Usage Note

Distinguish from jellyfish: jellyfish is the common name for the whole animal; medusa refers specifically to the free-swimming sexual phase in the cnidarian life cycle. The plural is medusae or medusas.

Common Mistakes

We saw a medusa at the aquarium.' (when pointing at any jellyfish)
We saw a jellyfish at the aquarium.
medusa names a life-cycle stage, not the everyday term for the animal.

Word family

  • medusan
    adjectiveC2
  • medusoid
    adjectiveC2
  • Gorgon
    nounB2
  • gorgonian
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Medusa is the name of a specific individual — the only mortal sister among the three Gorgons in Greek mythology. Gorgon is the broader category referring to any of the three snake-haired sisters (Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale) whose gaze turned onlookers to stone. Using Medusa when you mean Gorgon in general is inaccurate, since the other two sisters were immortal and had different roles in the myths. In popular culture Medusa has become the most recognised name from the trio and is sometimes mistakenly treated as interchangeable with Gorgon. For example: 'Perseus killed Medusa, the most famous of the Gorgons' is correct; 'All three Gorgons were named Medusa' is incorrect.

Gorgon

Etymology

GreekLatinEnglish

From Latin Medūsa, borrowed from Greek Médousa (Μέδουσα), meaning 'guardian' or 'protectress' — the feminine present participle of médein, 'to protect or rule over.' In Greek myth she was the mortal Gorgon beheaded by Perseus; her severed head, still retaining its petrifying power, became a weapon and a protective symbol (the Gorgoneion). The zoological sense arose in the 19th century from the resemblance of a jellyfish's trailing tentacles to Medusa's snaky hair.