[ep-ik] 
| 1. | noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem. |
| 2. | resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country. |
| 3. | heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war. |
| 4. | of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions. |
| 5. | an epic poem. |
| 6. | epic poetry. |
| 7. | any composition resembling an epic. |
| 8. | something worthy to form the subject of an epic: The defense of the Alamo is an American epic. |
| 9. | (initial capital letter ) Also called Old Ionic. the Greek dialect represented in the Iliad and the Odyssey, apparently Aeolic modified by Ionic. |
A long narrative poem written in elevated style, in which heroes of great historical or legendary importance perform valorous deeds. The setting is vast in scope, covering great nations, the world, or the universe, and the action is important to the history of a nation or people. The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid are some great epics from world literature, and two great epics in English are Beowulf and Paradise Lost.
Note: Figuratively, any task of great magnitude may be called “epic,” as in an “epic feat” or an “epic undertaking.”