Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An example.
- n. A brief story used to make a point in an argument or to illustrate a moral truth.
Wiktionary
- n. An example.
- n. A story demonstrating a moral point.
Etymologies
- From Latin exemplum ("example"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin; see example. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Perhaps better suited is the term exemplum, a kind of allegorical story where a particular instance serves to illustrate a general religious theme in a sermon.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Gilmour: Anne Bronte's Religious Imagination
“While no one has done a statistical survey, but basing our examination on what I call exemplum analysis, which is in itself telling -- a way of ascertaining truthful aspects of movements in our systems, etc. -- we know that a great majority of the entire population of the country [of] Iran is vehemently against the Islamic Republic.”
The Huffington Post: Kathleen Wells, J.D.: Dr. Hossein Ziai Says Iran May See Another Revolution
“While no one has done a statistical survey, but basing our examination on what I call exemplum analysis, which is in itself telling - a way of ascertaining truthful aspects of movements in our systems, etc. - we know that a great majority of the entire population of the country [of] Iran is vehemently against the Islamic Republic.”
“The image recorded Morse's own experience of working in Paris, but more boldly offered an exemplum for the edification of his fellow artists and citizens at home.”
The Wall Street Journal: Ushering the Old Masters Into the New World
“Arthur is an exemplum, a negative example of one who did not heed Lady Wisdom's warning.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Gilmour: Anne Bronte's Religious Imagination
“But it is simply an exemplum of the distraction personality politics which rages during full-tilt by-election campaigns.”
“If we take Tanenhaus's own biography of Whittaker Chambers as an exemplum of what he's describing, he probably is thinking of something like the Victorian "triple-decker.”
“Soldiers, scorned and suspect in peacetime, suddenly become the highest and unimpeachable exemplum of honor and virtue.”
“The bacterial flagellum has received attention as an exemplum of biological complexity; however, how this complexity and diversification have been achieved remains rather poorly understood.”
““E.g.” means “for example” and comes from the Latin expression exempli gratia, “for the sake of an example,” with the noun exemplum in the genitive to go with gratia in the ablative.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘exemplum’.
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SCIE - Be the first...
... to use these words in spoken English and reap esteem. In the SPOKEN corpus of the COCA (full corpus: 450 million words) none of these occur.
stochastic, disputant, state-led, almshouse, exceptionality, bibliographical, t-test, z-score, personal/social, neoplastic, stroma, ludic and 288 more...
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phrontistery - e
from phrontistery.info
ecclesiarchy, ecclesiastry, ecdemomania, echinuliform, echoism, echolalia, echopraxia, eclaircise, ?claircissement, eclat, ?clat, eclegme and 616 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Oblivion
By David Foster Wallace
ossify, reverie, hypergeometric, emetic, mien, cruciform, accreted, perpend, rheostat, predilections, coccyx, hirsute and 178 more...
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jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
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Rhetorical devices
How to write that killer speech.
alliteration, allusion, amplification, anacoluthon, anadiplosis, analogy, anaphora, antanagoge, antimetabole, antiphrasis, antithesis, apophasis and 48 more...
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Girl With Curious Hair
divot, neurasthenic, exemplum, collate, concatenate, redolent, mastication, pidgin, endemic, demiurge, mythopoeic, recalcitrant and 52 more...
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Blackeyewarrior@yahoo.com's Words
Tweets
Looking for tweets for exemplum.
jmjarmstrong JM put in his thumb and pulled out an exemplum and said "What a good boy am I!" Feb 6, 2009