Epithet
['epɪθet] or ['ɛpɪθɛt]
Definition
(n.) An adjective expressing some quality, attribute, or relation, that is properly or specially appropriate to a person or thing; as, a just man; a verdant lawn.
(n.) Term; expression; phrase.
(v. t.) To describe by an epithet.
Edited by Elise
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [Technical term of the Rhetorician.] Adjective, name, appellation, designation, title, qualifying word or term, descriptive term.
Typed by Eugenia
Definition
n. an adjective expressing some real quality of the thing to which it is applied or an attribute expressing some quality ascribed to it: (Shak.) term expression.—v.t. to term.—adj. Epithet′ic pertaining to an epithet: abounding with epithets.—n. Epith′eton (Shak.) epithet.
Edited by Clare
Examples
- Italians, Piani said, using the word as an epithet, Italiani! Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Elizabeth could hardly help laughing at so convenient a proposal; yet was really vexed that her mother should be always giving him such an epithet. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- You missed your epithet. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- They pressed round their leader, as if to shield him, while they loudly bestowed on him every sacred denomination and epithet of worship. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- His conduct has been--we will say _strange_ just now, till we have time to characterize it by a more exact epithet. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- You dare to apply such another epithet to me, and, as sure as I stand here, in you go. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The candidature of Francis was supported by Leo X (1513), who also requires from us the epithet brilliant. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- In the climax of his exasperation he hurled an oath at the dog and a coarse epithet at his mistress. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Its regular architecture, and the gray and mossy colouring communicated by time, gave it a just claim to this epithet. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- You give him his bottle of wine here; you give him meat, drink, and lodging there; you dare not touch him with a finger or an epithet. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Rightly understood, the idea behind the words contains all that is valuable in conservatism, and, for the first time, gives a reputable meaning to that tortured epithet constructive. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Bestow not on me, Sir Knight, she said, the epithet of noble. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- I remonstrated, in allusion to the epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby set upon it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- He was affected by his mistress's deplorable situation, and succeeded in preventing an outrageous denial of the epithet drunken on the footman's part. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- For such an epithet an Englishman would have struck its utterer, but Caliphronas did not even frown. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Soft is the very word for her eyeof all epithets, the justest that could be given. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Brief self-spurning epithets burst from her lips when alone. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- She showered upon him the tenderest epithets that love could devise, he addressed her from the North Pole of his frozen heart as the Spouse of Christ! Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- These epithets--these attributes I put from me. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- This fixation has brought down upon the socialists a torrent of abuse in which atheism and materialism are prevailing epithets. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I should think one of those epithets would do at a time, said Mary, trying to smile, but feeling alarmed. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- They went away finally with a closing burst of ridicule and offensive epithets. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Do you remember the happy epithets? Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
Typist: Toni