Sauron

See also: SAURON and sauron

English

Etymology

From the dark lord Sauron in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, whose name Tolkien created in his constructed language Quenya, from saura (“foul, putrid”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsaʊ(ə)ɹɒn/, /ˈsɔːɹɒn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsaʊɹɑn/, /ˈsɔɹɑn/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsæoɹɔn/, /ˈsoːɹɔn/

Noun

Sauron (plural Saurons)

1. An evil, tyrannical, or widely disliked person.
   • 2004 January 8, “The story goes on being relevant”, in Birmingham Evening Mail:

     'I don't think there are any Saurons around today but, in 1939 there was one, sitting in the middle of Europe. […]

   • 2007 February, “Overload”, in GameAxis Unwired, page 12:

     For aspiring Saurons and Darth Sidiouses, the game allows the player to fill the boots of a big evil Overlord with a handful of minions to start out with.

   • 2013, Douglas V. Porpora, Alexander G. Nikolaev, Julia Hagemann May, & Alexander Jenkins, Post-Ethical Society: The Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, and the Moral Failure of the Secular, University of Chicago Press, published 2013, →ISBN, page 196:

     Torture, indeed, like enslavement, has traditionally been iconic of pure evil, the practice of a Sauron or a Saddam Hussein.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Sauron.

Usage notes

The first pronunciation listed (for each accent) was the one intended by Tolkien.

Derived terms

• SAURON
• Sauronesque

 

Proper noun

Sauron

1. (astronomy) Alternative form of SAURON

Anagrams

• Ruanos