Adjacent Words

Epitome definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EPIT'OME
EPIT'OMIST, n. An epitomizer.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a standard or typical example; "he is the prototype of good breeding"; "he provided America with an image of the good father" [syn: prototype, paradigm, epitome, image]
2: a brief abstract (as of an article or book)

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin, from Greek epitom?, from epitemnein to cut short, from epi- + temnein to cut — more at tome Date: 1520 1. a. a summary of a written work b. a brief presentation or statement of something 2. a typical or ideal example ; embodiment <the British monarchy itself is the epitome of tradition — Richard Joseph> 3. brief or miniature form — usually used with in • epitomic or epitomical adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a person or thing embodying a quality, class, etc. 2 a thing representing another in miniature. 3 a summary of a written work; an abstract. Derivatives: epitomist n. Etymology: L f. Gk epitome f. epitemno abridge (as EPI-, temno cut)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Epitome E*pit"o*me, n.; pl. Epitomes. [L., fr. Gr. ? a surface incision, also, and abridgment, fr. ? to cut into, cut short; 'epi` upon + te`mnein to cut: cf. F. ['e]pitome. See Tome.] 1. A work in which the contents of a former work are reduced within a smaller space by curtailment and condensation; a brief summary; an abridgement. [An] epitome of the contents of a very large book. --Sydney Smith. 2. A compact or condensed representation of anything. An epitome of English fashionable life. --Carlyle. A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome. --Dryden. Syn: Abridgement; compendium; compend; abstract; synopsis; abbreviature. See Abridgment.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you say that a person or thing is the epitome of something, you are emphasizing that they are the best possible example of a particular type of person or thing. (FORMAL) Maureen was the epitome of sophistication... N-SING: usu the N of n [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Abridgment, abstract, compend, compendium, conspectus, syllabus, brief, breviary, summary, synopsis, digest, sum and substance.

Moby Thesaurus

abbreviation, abbreviature, abrege, abridgement, abridgment, abstract, antetype, antitype, apocope, archetype, biotype, breviary, brief, capsule, classic example, compend, compendium, compression, condensation, condensed version, conspectus, contraction, criterion, curtailment, digest, draft, elision, ellipsis, embodiment, essence, exemplar, foreshortening, fugleman, fugler, genotype, head, imitatee, last word, lead, mirror, model, original, outline, overview, pandect, paradigm, pattern, personification, precedent, precis, prototype, quintessence, recap, recapitulation, reduction, representative, resume, retrenchment, review, rubric, rule, shortened version, shortening, skeleton, sketch, standard, sum, summary, summation, summing-up, survey, syllabus, syncope, synopsis, telescoping, thumbnail sketch, topical outline, truncation, type, type species, type specimen, typical example, ultimate, urtext