archetype

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“
In the science of symbolism, the archetype is the thing adopted as a symbol, whence the symbolic idea is derived.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype: "'Frankenstein' . . . 'Dracula' . . . 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' . . . the archetypes that have influenced all subsequent horror stories” (New York Times).
  2. noun An ideal example of a type; quintessence: an archetype of the successful entrepreneur.
  3. noun In Jungian psychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.
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Examples (50)

  • Bianca's pocket system projected the shape of a hundred-kilometer zaratán , not Finisterra or any other particular individual but rather an archetype, a sort of Platonic ideal. —  FSF,December2007
  • So the tale is an archetype, applicable to all Buddhas. —  Buddha
  • The young man remained almost as dangerously simple as an archetype, and when seized by determination he was no less terrifying than he had been when they had stood on the bridge overlooking the prime arrondisement. —  Magazine - Fantasy and Science Fiction - [Vol 112] - Issue 03 - March 2007 (v1.0)
  • As the word archetype was borrowed from old metaphysical ideas dating back to the time of Plato, he took care to state that what he meant by it was no more than a form embodying all that could be affirmed equally respecting every single kind of cephalous mollusc, and by no means an “idea” upon which it could be supposed that animal forms had been modelled. —  Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work
  • Slide 6: Character Archetypes • The hero • Joseph Campbell has argued that this archetype is so well defined that the life of the protagonist can be clearly divided into a series of well-marked adventures, which strongly suggest a ritualistic pattern. —  Recently Uploaded Slideshows
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archetype:   archetypes
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin archetypum, from Greek arkhetupon, from neuter of arkhetupos, original : arkhe-, arkhi-, archi- + tupos, model, stamp.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also architype; = French archétype, from Latin archetypum, from Greek ἀρχέτυπον, a pattern, model, neuter of ἀρχέτυπος, first-molded, as an exemplar or model, from ἀρχε-, ἀρχι-, first, + τύπτειν (√*τυπ), beat, stamp, later τύπος, stamp, mold, pattern, type: see type.
 

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/ˈɑrkətaɪp/
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