Word of the Day

Sunday, April 17, 2005

panegyric

\pan-uh-JIR-ik; -JY-rik\ , noun;

A lofty, formal composition or speech in praise of someone or something.

Formal or elaborate praise.

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Quotes:

It was a panegyric, a set piece praising the emperor just short of calling him a god -- Rome was nominally Christian by then.

-- Robert Allen, "The confessions of St. Augustine", National Review, January 11, 1985

The final section [of the poem] . . . so impressed one Catholic cleric of the 'old Faith' that he wrote an unabashed panegyric to the poet.

-- Philip Hoare, Oscar Wilde's Last Stand

Whether the thematics revolve around love, death, pain, and/or the struggle of existence, or panegyrics to life and to God, the swirling energetic patterns inherent in her words take on biblical power and grandeur.

-- Bettina L. Knapp, "World Literature in Review", World Literature Today, January 1, 1997

That's all very persuasive, but it's not going to make me jump out of bed at five any more than a panegyric by a white water lily on the splendors of the morning is going to make the evening primrose transplant itself in Linnaeus's 6:00 A.M. flower bed.

-- "Night Owl Philonoe", American Scholar, Winter 1999

Origin:

Panegyric comes from Latin panegyricus, from Greek panegyrikos, "of or for a public assembly," from panegyris, "public assembly," from pan-, "all" + agyris, "assembly."