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epitome - 4 dictionary results

e⋅pit⋅o⋅me

  [i-pit-uh-mee]
Use epitome in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class: He is the epitome of goodness.
2. a condensed account, esp. of a literary work; abstract.
Origin:
1520–30; < L epitomē abridgment < Gk epitom abridgment, surface incision. See epi-, -tome

Related forms:
ep⋅i⋅tom⋅i⋅cal  [ep-i-tom-i-kuhl] , ep⋅i⋅tom⋅ic, adjective

Synonyms:
1. embodiment, exemplification, model, typification, quintessence.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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e·pit·o·me   (ĭ-pĭt'ə-mē)   
n.  
  1. A representative or perfect example of a class or type: "He is seen . . . as the epitome of the hawkish, right-of-center intellectual" (Paul Kennedy).
  2. A brief summary, as of a book or article; an abstract.

[Latin epitomē, a summary, from Greek, an abridgment, from epitemnein, to cut short : epi-, epi- + temnein, to cut; see tem- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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epitome 
1529, "an abstract; brief statement of the chief points of some writing," from M.Fr., from L., from Gk. epitome "abridgment," from epitemnein "cut short, abridge," from epi- "into" + temnein "to cut." Sense of "person or thing that typifies something" is first recorded 1607.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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