Adjacent Words

Archetype definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

'ARCHETYPE, n. [Gr. beginning, and form.]
1. The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made; as, a tree is the archetype or pattern of our idea of that tree.
2. Among minters, the standard weight, by which others are adjusted.
3. Among Platonists, the archetypal world is the world as it existed in the idea of God, before the creation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: something that serves as a model or a basis for making copies; "this painting is a copy of the original" [syn: original, archetype, pilot]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin archetypum, from Greek archetypon, from neuter of archetypos archetypal, from archein + typos type Date: 1545 1. the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies ; prototype; also a perfect example 2. idea 1a 3. an inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of C. G. Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the unconscious of the individual • archetypal also archetypical adjective • archetypally also archetypically adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a an original model; a prototype. b a typical specimen. 2 (in Jungian psychology) a primitive mental image inherited from man's earliest ancestors, and supposed to be present in the collective unconscious. 3 a recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, etc. Derivatives: archetypal adj. archetypical adj. Etymology: L archetypum f. Gk arkhetupon (as ARCH-, tupos stamp)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Archetype Ar"che*type ([aum]r"k[-e]*t[imac]p), n. [L. archetypum, Gr. 'arche`typon, fr. 'arche`typos stamped first and as model; 'arche = 'archi + ty`pos stamp, figure, pattern, ty`ptein to strike: cf. F. arch['e]type. See Arch-, pref.] 1. The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed. The House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet. --Macaulay. Types and shadows of that glorious archetype that was to come into the world. --South. 2. (Coinage) The standard weight or coin by which others are adjusted. 3. (Biol.) The plan or fundamental structure on which a natural group of animals or plants or their systems of organs are assumed to have been constructed; as, the vertebrate archetype.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(archetypes) An archetype is something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing, because it has all their most important characteristics. (FORMAL) He came to this country 20 years ago and is the archetype of the successful Asian businessman. = epitome N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Pattern, model, type, prototype, original, exemplar, example, protoplast, mirror, paragon.

Moby Thesaurus

Geistesgeschichte, Hegelian idea, Kantian idea, Platonic form, Platonic idea, aesthetic form, antetype, antitype, archetypal pattern, art form, beau ideal, biotype, blind impulse, build, cast, classic, classic example, collective unconscious, complex idea, configuration, conformation, criterion, cut, engram, epitome, eternal object, eternal universal, example, exemplar, fashion, father image, figuration, figure, form, formal cause, format, formation, frame, fugleman, fugler, genotype, genre, highest category, history of ideas, id, ideal, idealism, ideate, ideatum, idee-force, image, imago, imitatee, impression, impulse, inborn proclivity, innate idea, inner form, innovation, instinct, layout, lead, libido, make, makeup, masterpiece, masterwork, matrix, memory, memory trace, mirror, modality, mode, model, mold, natural instinct, natural tendency, new departure, noosphere, noumenon, original, paradigm, paragon, pattern, pattern of perfection, percept, pilot model, precedent, primitive self, prototype, quintessence, regulative first principle, representative, rule, set, shape, significant form, simple idea, stamp, standard, structure, style, subconscious urge, subsistent form, the Absolute, the Absolute Idea, the Self-determined, the realized ideal, transcendent idea, transcendent nonempirical concept, transcendent universal, traumatic trace, turn, type, type species, type specimen, unconscious memory, universal, universal concept, universal essence, unlearned capacity, unreasoning impulse, urtext, very model, vital impulse