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κρα?́τιστ-ος , η, ον, Ep. κάρτ- (as always in Hom.), isolated Superl. from κρατύς,
A.strongest, mightiest, Il.1.266, etc.; θεῶν κ., i.e. Zeus. Pi.O.14.13; κ. Ἑλλήνων, i.e. Achilles, S.Ph.3: in Prose, “εἰ τοὺς κ. ἐνικήσαμεν” Th.7.67; Λημνίων τὸ κ. the best of their men, Id.5.8; τὸ δυνάμεως κ. the strength or flower of . . , X.Cyr.6.1.28, etc.; of things, καρτίστην . . μάχην fiercest fight, Il.6.185; “δεσμὸς κ.” Ti.Locr.99a.
2. generally, best, most excellent, as Sup. of ἀγαθός, Pi.I.1.17, S.Ant. 1050, etc.: colloquially, "“ἄνδρα κ." εἰπών” Thphr. Char.5.2; οἱ κράτιστοι the aristocracy, X.HG7.1.42, v. ἀγαθός 1; τὰ κ. τῆς χώρας ib.3.4.20.
b. as a title or mode of address, “κράτιστε Θεόφιλε” Ev.Luc. 1.3; esp. = Lat. egregius, “ὁ κ. ἡγεμών” PFay.p.33 (i A.D.); “ὁ κ. ἐπίτροπος” BGU891 (ii A.D.); ἡ κ., of a woman of the equester ordo, IG14. 1346; also, = Lat. clarissimus, of Senators, ὁ κ. ἀνθὐπατος ib.9(1).61; “ὁ κ. συγκλητικός” IGRom.3.581, etc.; “ἡ κ. βουλή” POxy.2108.6 (iii A. D.).
c. with modal words added, “κ. τὴν ψυχήν” Th.2.40; πάντων πάντα κ. best of all in . . , X.An.1.9.2; “ἔν τινι” Id.Mem.3.4.5; “εἴς τι” Pl. Phlb.67b; “περί τι” Id.Plt.257a; “πρός τι” X.HG3.4.16: c. inf., best at doing, Th.2.81, Pl.Phdr.267d, X.Mem.1.4.1, etc.: c. part., “τῶν ἡλίκων κ. εἶναι ἀκοντίζων καὶ τοξεύων” Id.Cyr.1.3.15.
3. neut. folld. by inf., φυγέειν κάρτιστον to flee were best, Od.12.120, cf. E.El. 379, Ar.Eq.80, etc.: in pl., “κράτιστα . . ἑλεῖν” E.Med.384: abs., ὅπερ κ. the main point, Th.1.143.
4. Adv. usages, ἀπὸ τοῦ κρατίστου in all good faith, Plb.8.17.4; “κατὰ τὸ κ.” D.H.2.22: neut. pl. κράτιστα as Adv., X.HG3.4.16, Ages.1.25.—The Comp. in use is κρείσσων (q.v.).
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (30):
    • Aristophanes, Knights, 80
    • Euripides, Electra, 379
    • Euripides, Medea, 384
    • Homer, Odyssey, 12.120
    • Plato, Statesman, 257a
    • Plato, Philebus, 67b
    • Plato, Phaedrus, 267d
    • Sophocles, Antigone, 1050
    • Sophocles, Philoctetes, 3
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.143
    • Thucydides, Histories, 5.8
    • Thucydides, Histories, 2.40
    • Thucydides, Histories, 2.81
    • Thucydides, Histories, 7.67
    • Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.9.2
    • Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 1.3.15
    • Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 6.1.28
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 1
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 3.4.16
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 3.4.20
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 7.1.42
    • Xenophon, Memorabilia, 1.4.1
    • Xenophon, Memorabilia, 3.4.5
    • Xenophon, Agesilaus, 1.25
    • Homer, Iliad, 1.266
    • Homer, Iliad, 6.185
    • Theophrastus, Characters, 5.2
    • Polybius, Histories, 8.17.4
    • New Testament, Luke, 1.3
    • Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae, 2.22
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