Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A term used to characterize a person or thing, such as rosy-fingered in rosy-fingered dawn or the Great in Catherine the Great.
- n. A term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title of a person, such as The Great Emancipator for Abraham Lincoln.
- n. An abusive or contemptuous word or phrase.
- n. Biology A word in the scientific name of an animal or plant following the name of the genus and denoting a species, variety, or other division of the genus, as sativa in Lactuca sativa.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An adjective, or a word or phrase used as an adjective, expressing some real quality of the person or thing to which it is applied, or attributing some quality or character to the person or thing: as, a benevolent or a hard-hearted man; a scandalous exhibition; sphinx-like mystery; a Fabian policy.
- n. Hence In rhetoric, a term added to impart strength or ornament to diction, and differing from an adjective in that it designates as well as qualifies, and may take the form of a surname: as, Dionysius the Tyrant; Alexander the Great.
- n. A phrase; an expression.
- To entitle; describe by epithets.
Wiktionary
- n. A term used to characterize a person or thing.
- n. A term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title of a person.
- n. An abusive or contemptuous word or phrase.
- n. A word in the scientific name of a taxon following the name of the genus or species. This applies only to formal names of plants, fungi and bacteria. In formal names of animals the corresponding term is the specific name.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An adjective expressing some quality, attribute, or relation, that is properly or specially appropriate to a person or thing.
- n. Term; expression; phrase.
- v. To describe by an epithet.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a defamatory or abusive word or phrase
- n. descriptive word or phrase
Etymologies
- Latin epitheton, from Greek, neuter of epithetos, added, attributed, from epitithenai, epithe-, to add to : epi-, epi- + tithenai, to place; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“As a general thing, we understand that the person to whom the epithet is applied is a lazy, lumpy bumpkin.”
“In fact, normally the opposite sort of epithet is applied: "dork" or "nerd" have frequently been flung at me (and accepted with pride).”
“For one I clearly said I favor high IQ immigration, which can, of course, include Latinos, so your 'xenophobe' epithet is empty trashtalk.”
A Childish Question About Immigration, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“The racial epithet is a botched way of advancing a deep ideological necessity for Al Qaeda: to keep its narrative going, Zawahiri has to define Obama as not authentically American.”
“I got smart enough this time around to at least turn off general chat, which spares me a lot of grousing about whatever sexist/racist epithet is being flung about this particular hour.”
“Till the time consumerism ceases to be a pejorative epithet in India, let's learn to play by the rules and with fellow-feeling.”
“At least at a glance it seems that the only church AP feels the need to qualify (or disqualify) with a political epithet is a church being discriminated against for welcoming all people, a seemingly "liberal" concept.”
“They came here expecting to hear taunts and the occasional indelicate epithet from the stands.”
“The reason for this highly appreciative epithet is probably that de Gennes has succeeded in perceiving common features in order phenomena in very widely differing physical systems, and has been able to formulate rules for how such systems move from order to disorder.”
“Nonetheless, this work may rightly be called classic, but in a deeper and more profound sense than usual if this epithet is to express something other and more than vague praise.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘epithet’.
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 322 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Favorite Words
Fun words that are interesting and arresting.
Ort, unctuous, panoply, defenestrate, palpable, ubiquitous, flagellate, serendipitous, epiphanic, constructivist, amuse bouche, sobriquet and 30 more...
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These words are about words.
words on words. yyep.
codex, folio, lexicon, tome, word stock, wordbook, wordlist, palaver, word index, argot, parlance, doublespeak and 68 more...

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