Sun King
1
9.1
- noun
- /sʌn kɪŋ/
:
Rey Sol
- And with that, the Sun King commissioned a risky expedition to find the underwater lost City of Atlantis.
- Sun King, Louis XIV
- Sun King, Louis
- Sun King's reign
The boys on the disk are splendid and shaved in white shirts, courtiers forming a circle around the Sun King.
- The boys on the disk are splendid and shaved in white shirts, courtiers forming a circle around the Sun King.
Examples
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Louis XIV is famously known as the Sun King due to his lavish court life at Versailles.
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The luxury of the palace was more than merely a celebration of the wealth and power of the Sun King; it was also a crucial weapon in his battle to domesticate the obstreperous French nobility.
Academic text (2010) -
- And the Sun King?
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And that night, the man also known as the Sun King, learned that even he would not live forever.
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I feel a sense of awe standing here in the lights of the Sun King.
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In his final madness, the painter revealed that he, along with his protector, d'Antin, and his contemporary, Voltaire, remained enthralled by the image of the Sun King's reign.
Academic text (1996) -
During his reign, the Sun King presided over a time of great cultural and political change in France.
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The Sun King left a lasting legacy that still influences French culture and history.
Synonyms
A French king who ruled a long time and made France powerful in Europe
Surface Forms
Morphology
Sun + king
The combination 'Sun' + 'king' yields a readily interpretable metaphor — a king likened to the sun (radiant, central, glorious) — so learners who know both words can grasp the general figurative idea. However, the specific historical reference as the epithet for Louis XIV and its status as a conventional title are not predictable from the parts alone, so it is only partially transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
Sun King comes from Louis XIV of France, who used the sun as his personal symbol and wanted people to think everything in his kingdom revolved around him, so the phrase now means a ruler with 'absolute power' and a very showy court.