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exemplum

[ig-zem-pluhm]

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noun, plural ex·em·pla

[-pluh] .

an example or model.

an anecdote that illustrates or supports a moral point, as in a medieval sermon.

Origin:
1885–90; < Late Latin, Latin: literally, a pattern, model, copy

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

exemplum (ɪɡˈzɛmpləm)

—n , pl -pla
1.	an anecdote that supports a moral point or sustains an argument, used esp in medieval sermons
2.	an example or illustration

[from Latin: example]

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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Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

exemplum

short tale originally incorporated by a medieval preacher into his sermon to emphasize a moral or illustrate a point of doctrine. Fables, folktales, and legends were gathered into collections, such as Exempla (c. 1200) by Jacques de Vitry, for the use of preachers. Such exempla often provided the germ or plot for medieval secular tales in verse or prose. The influence of exempla can be seen in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1387-1400) in the haunting "The Pardoner's Tale."

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Quote Of The Day

"Good writing is always a breaking of the soil, clearing away prejudices, pulling up of sour weeds of crooked thinking, stripping the turf so as to get at what is fertile beneath. It would be amusing to carry the simile further. Those bulbs that flower in the sand and wither! The gay fiction annual that has to be planted again every year! Those experimental plants from Russia, France, and Greenwich Village that are always getting winter killed—confound 'em!—is it worth while planting them again? The stocky perennial that keeps coming up and coming up—so easy to grow and so ugly. Scarlet sage that gives a touch of fiery sin to the edge of the suburbanite's concrete walk! And then the good flowers—as honest as they are beautiful! The well-ordered gar den! The climbing rose that escapes and is the most beautiful of all!"

-Henry Seidel Canby

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exemplum

ex·em·plum