protean
adjective
, prō-ˈtē-\
Definition of protean
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Synonyms for protean
Synonyms
adaptable, all-around (also all-round), universal, versatile
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Examples of protean in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The rest of the characters — sympathetic, skeptical, intimidating and just plain evil — troop in one by one, their various personalities embodied in this extraordinary narrator's protean voice. — Dallas News, "Don't let a bad reader ruin your audiobook experience: Here are recordings to savor — and to avoid," 20 Aug. 2019 The rest of the characters — sympathetic, skeptical, intimidating, and just plain evil — troop in one by one, their various personalities embodied in this extraordinary narrator’s protean voice. — Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post, "Don’t let a bad reader ruin your audiobook experience. Here are recordings to savor — and to avoid.," 5 Aug. 2019 Tines’s solos, foundationally operatic but with some flexibility to the protean score, serve as a through line, and his spoken parts bookend the piece, grounding the production in the text. — Maya Phillips, The New Yorker, "“The Black Clown” Beautifully Reconfigures a Langston Hughes Poem," 24 July 2019 But English is such a beautiful, rich, protean language to render ugly and dumb. — Nr Editors, National Review, "The Week," 25 July 2019 The twenty-four-year-old photographer’s ornate, protean wardrobe provides a kind of disguise. — Eren Orbey, The New Yorker, "A Photographer’s Elaborate Transformations in His Childhood Bedroom," 18 July 2019 Armstrong is played by Ryan Gosling, a Canadian, and his wife, the wonderfully stoical Janet, by Claire Foy, an Englishwoman of protean talent who in a former life used to be The Queen. — Gerard Baker, WSJ, "Hope for the Present in a Reminder of Greatness," 5 Oct. 2018 For one thing, electoral politics is protean: What worked in 2008 and 2012 is almost guaranteed not to work in 2020. — Barton Swaim, WSJ, "Politics: End of the Rainbow," 5 July 2018 Philip Roth, the prolific, protean, and often blackly comic novelist who was a pre-eminent figure in 20th-century literature, died on Tuesday night at a hospital in Manhattan. — New York Times, "Philip Roth, Towering Novelist Who Explored Lust, Jewish Life and America, Dies at 85," 22 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'protean.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for protean
protean
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of protean
See the full definition for protean in the English Language Learners Dictionary
protean
adjective
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Medical Definition of protean
(Entry 1 of 2)
protean
noun
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Medical Definition of protean (Entry 2 of 2)