embody

- 3 dictionary results

em⋅bod⋅y

[em-bod-ee]

–verb (used with object), -bod⋅ied, -bod⋅y⋅ing.

1.	to give a concrete form to; express, personify, or exemplify in concrete form: to embody an idea in an allegorical painting.

2.	to provide with a body; incarnate; make corporeal: to embody a spirit.

3.	to collect into or include in a body; organize; incorporate.

4.	to embrace or comprise.

Also, imbody.

Origin:
1540–50; em- ¹ + body

Related forms:

em⋅bod⋅i⋅er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source

em·bod·y (ěm-bŏd'ē)

tr.v. em·bod·ied, em·bod·y·ing, em·bod·ies

To give a bodily form to; incarnate.
To represent in bodily or material form: "As John Adams embodied the old style, Andrew Jackson embodied the new" (Richard Hofstadter).
To make part of a system or whole; incorporate: laws that embody a people's values.

Word Origin & History

embody

c.1652, in ref. to a soul or spirit invested with a physical form; of principles, ideas, etc., from 1663; from en- "in" + body.

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