noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˌɒziˈmændiəs/
rhymes with -ændiəs
1
noun
Meaning 1
A person once famous and respected who has since been utterly forgotten.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
2013, Will Self, quoted in The Guardian: "Falling short: seven writers reflect on failure" https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/22/falling-short-writers-reflect-failure An unavoidable sequel of the posterity delusion is the death of the writerly self, which depends too much on incoherence and inconsistency to remain pompous for long. And of course, the vast majority of today's mummified immortals are tomorrow's Ozymandiases.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Ὀσυμανδύας (Osumandúas), from Demotic Egyptian wsr-mꜣꜥ.t-rꜥ, smn-rꜥ, ns-mn-rꜥ, from Egyptian wsr-mꜣꜥt-rꜥ, the first part of the throne name of pharaoh Ramesses II. Modern usage derives from the poem Ozymandias, about a proud king whose empire and memory have long since crumbled into obscurity, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley and inspired by Diodorus Siculus's description of a colossal statue in the Ramesseum.
