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epistolary

[ih-pis-tl-er-ee]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

contained in or carried on by letters: an epistolary friendship.

of, pertaining to, or consisting of letters.

Origin:
1650–60; < Latin epistolāris of, belonging to a letter. See epistle, -ar¹

Related forms

un·e·pis·to·lar·y, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To epistolary

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Epistolary has a plethora of syllables.

So is cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine. Does it mean:

a white, crystalline, water-insoluble, powerful high explosive, C3H6N6O6, used chiefly in bombs and shells.

opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.

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Example Sentences

The epistolary novel has a distinguished ancestry and is a notoriously difficult form.

It takes courage to adapt an epistolary novel for the screen, particularly one as psychologically complex as this one.

Gurney has written an evocative epistolary account of two charter members of the privileged set.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

epistolary or (archaic) epistolatory (ɪˈpɪstələrɪ)

—*adj*
1.	relating to, denoting, conducted by, or contained in letters
2.	(of a novel or other work) constructed in the form of a series of letters

epistolatory or (archaic) epistolatory

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

epistolary

1650s, from Fr. épistolaire, from L. epistolaris, from epistola (see 'epistle-).

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Related Words

epistolary novel epistolic

epistolic

Matching Quote

"Lined with lindens of medium size with hanging droplets of rain distributed among their intricate black twigs according to the future arrangement of leaves (tomorrow each drop would contain a green pupil); complete with a smooth tarred surface some thirty feet across and variegated sidewalks (hand-built, and flattering to the feet), it rose at a barely perceptible angle, beginning with a post office and ending with a church, like an epistolary novel."

-Vladimir Nabokov

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