Protean
adjective
Changing quickly and often.
His protean talent allowed him to easily adapt to any role in the play.
Often appears as...
- protean nature
- protean forms
adjective
Able to do many different things.
As a protean artist, she plays the guitar, the violin, and the piano.
Often appears as...
- protean artist
- protean abilities
adjective
Changing quickly and often.
His protean talent allowed him to easily adapt to any role in the play.
Often appears as...
- protean nature
- protean forms
adjective
Able to do many different things.
As a protean artist, she plays the guitar, the violin, and the piano.
Often appears as...
- protean artist
- protean abilities
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Implies Flexibility
Protean suggests great flexibility in adapting to new situations or roles quickly.
Her protean nature was evident when she effortlessly switched from marketing to design.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Positive
Sometimes 'protean' may suggest instability or lack of consistent character.
His protean stance on key issues made voters distrust him.
Pro Tip 3/3Origin Story
The word is derived from Proteus, a Greek god who could change his shape, suggesting many forms.
The protean form of the sculpture alludes to the myth of Proteus.
Pro Tip 1/3Implies Flexibility
Protean suggests great flexibility in adapting to new situations or roles quickly.
Her protean nature was evident when she effortlessly switched from marketing to design.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Positive
Sometimes 'protean' may suggest instability or lack of consistent character.
His protean stance on key issues made voters distrust him.
Pro Tip 3/3Origin Story
The word is derived from Proteus, a Greek god who could change his shape, suggesting many forms.
The protean form of the sculpture alludes to the myth of Proteus.
Pro Tip 1/3Implies Flexibility
Protean suggests great flexibility in adapting to new situations or roles quickly.
Her protean nature was evident when she effortlessly switched from marketing to design.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Positive
Sometimes 'protean' may suggest instability or lack of consistent character.
His protean stance on key issues made voters distrust him.
Pro Tip 3/3Origin Story
The word is derived from Proteus, a Greek god who could change his shape, suggesting many forms.
The protean form of the sculpture alludes to the myth of Proteus.
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Quote examples
Tom Hollander
English Actor
Actors, who have no real sense of who they are or what they want, have long known that not just their gender but every aspect of their identity is on a spectrum. They can be anything they are asked to be. They aspire to a protean state, shape-shifting like high summer clouds.
Quote examples
Maryanne Wolf
American Educator
There are no genes or areas in the brain devoted uniquely to reading. Rather, our ability to read represents our brain's protean capacity to learn something outside our repertoire by creating new circuits that connect existing circuits in a different way.
Quote examples
Paul Johnson
British Journalist
Indeed it is the protean ability of Western civilization to be self-critical and self-correcting - not only in producing wealth but over the whole range of human activities - that constitutes its most decisive superiority over any of its rivals.
Quote examples
George Packer
American Novelist
Part of the mystique of blogs is their protean quality: They work both sides of the divide between politics and media, further blurring the already fuzzy distinctions between reporter, pundit, political operative, activist, and citizen.
Quote examples
Michael Paterniti
American Writer
The older we get, the more we desire to reclaim our body at 25; we'll take our face at 35, the elasticity of our mind at its most powerful, to return ourselves somehow to our most vital moment of rigor and protean creation.
Quote examples
Asa Gray
American Scientist
This substance, which is manifold in its forms and protean in its transformations, has, in its state of living matter, one physiological name which has become familiar, that of protoplasm.
Quote examples
John Ortberg
American Clergyman
Sin is protean. It is a cancer that keeps mutating, and just when you think you have killed off one form, it turns out a deadlier strain yet is threatening your heart.
Quote examples
Joshua Cohen
American Writer
What do I want from a book? Something protean, something always on-the-move-or-make - shape-shifting, semantically-and-syntactically-shifting.
Quote examples
Alan Kay
American Scientist
The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped and exploited.
Quote examples
Tom Hollander
English Actor
Actors, who have no real sense of who they are or what they want, have long known that not just their gender but every aspect of their identity is on a spectrum. They can be anything they are asked to be. They aspire to a protean state, shape-shifting like high summer clouds.
Quote examples
Maryanne Wolf
American Educator
There are no genes or areas in the brain devoted uniquely to reading. Rather, our ability to read represents our brain's protean capacity to learn something outside our repertoire by creating new circuits that connect existing circuits in a different way.
Quote examples
Paul Johnson
British Journalist
Indeed it is the protean ability of Western civilization to be self-critical and self-correcting - not only in producing wealth but over the whole range of human activities - that constitutes its most decisive superiority over any of its rivals.
Quote examples
George Packer
American Novelist
Part of the mystique of blogs is their protean quality: They work both sides of the divide between politics and media, further blurring the already fuzzy distinctions between reporter, pundit, political operative, activist, and citizen.
Quote examples
Michael Paterniti
American Writer
The older we get, the more we desire to reclaim our body at 25; we'll take our face at 35, the elasticity of our mind at its most powerful, to return ourselves somehow to our most vital moment of rigor and protean creation.
Quote examples
Asa Gray
American Scientist
This substance, which is manifold in its forms and protean in its transformations, has, in its state of living matter, one physiological name which has become familiar, that of protoplasm.
Quote examples
John Ortberg
American Clergyman
Sin is protean. It is a cancer that keeps mutating, and just when you think you have killed off one form, it turns out a deadlier strain yet is threatening your heart.
Quote examples
Joshua Cohen
American Writer
What do I want from a book? Something protean, something always on-the-move-or-make - shape-shifting, semantically-and-syntactically-shifting.
Quote examples
Alan Kay
American Scientist
The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped and exploited.
Example 1 of 9
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