CHIMERA

chimera, chimaera

(noun) a grotesque product of the imagination

Chimera, Chimaera

(noun) (Greek mythology) fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head and a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail; daughter of Typhon

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

chimera (plural chimeras)

(Greek mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Chimera (a flame-spewing monster often represented as having two heads, one of a goat and the other of a lion; the body of a goat; and a serpent as a tail).

(mythology) Any fantastic creature with parts from different animals.

Anything composed of very disparate parts.

A foolish, incongruous, or vain thought or product of the imagination.

(architecture) A grotesque like a gargoyle, but without a spout for rainwater.

(genetics) An organism with genetically distinct cells originating from two or more zygotes.

Usually chimaera: a cartilaginous marine fish in the subclass Holocephali and especially the order Chimaeriformes, with a blunt snout, long tail, and a spine before the first dorsal fin.

Synonyms

• (fish): ghost shark, rabbitfish, ratfish

• (anything composed of very disparate parts): motley crew

Antonyms

• (anything composed of very disparate parts): monolith

Anagrams

• haremic

Etymology

Proper noun

Chimera

(Greek mythology) One of the many fantastical offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a multi-headed monster represented as vomiting flames. It had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a dragon for a tail. Killed by the hero Bellerophon in Lycea.

Anagrams

• haremic

Source: Wiktionary

Chime"ra, n.; pl. Chimeras. Etym: [L. chimaera a chimera (in sense 1), Gr. qymbr a yearling ewe.]

1. (Myth.)

Definition: A monster represented as vomiting flames, and as having the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon. "Dire chimeras and enchanted isles." Milton.

2. A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author. Burke.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition