- (in ancient Greece) a festival at which competitors contended for prizes. Among the best known were the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
-agon-, root.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- -agon- comes from Greek, where it has the meaning "struggle, fight''. This meaning is found in such words as: agonize, agony, antagonist, protagonist.
ag•on
(ag′ōn, -on, ä gōn′),USA pronunciation n., pl. a•go•nes
-
(ə gō′nēz).USA pronunciation
- Ancient History(in ancient Greece) a contest in which prizes were awarded in any of a number of events, as athletics, drama, music, poetry, and painting.
- Literature(italics) Greek. (in ancient Greek drama) a formalized debate or argumentation, esp. in comedy: usually following the proagon and preceding the parabasis.
- Literatureconflict, esp. between the protagonist and the antagonist.
- Greek agó̄n struggle, contest
- 1650–60
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
agon /ˈæɡəʊn; -ɡɒn/ n ( pl agones /əˈɡəʊniːz/)
'agon' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
agonize
- agony
- antagonize
- agonal
- agonic
- agonic line
- agonist
- Catherine of Aragon
- flexagon
- glucagon
- parabasis
- paragon
- proagon
- quindecagon