Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A beginning or introductory part, especially of a speech or treatise.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The beginning of anything; specifically, the introductory part of a discourse, intended to prepare the audience for the main subject; the preface or proemial part of a composition.
- n. Synonyms Proem; Prelude, Preface, etc. See introduction.
Wiktionary
- n. A beginning
- n. The introduction to a paper or discourse.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A beginning; an introduction; especially, the introductory part of a discourse or written composition, which prepares the audience for the main subject; the opening part of an oration.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (rhetoric) the introductory section of an oration or discourse
Etymologies
- From Latin exōrdium ("beginning, commencement"), from exōrdior ("I begin, commence"), from ex ("out of, from") + ōrdior ("I begin"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin, from exōrdīrī, to begin : ex-, intensive pref.; see ex- + ōrdīrī, to begin; see ar- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“[1795] * Your exordium is the worst part of the translation.”
“The exordium is ridiculously turgid: If all the members of my body were changed into tongues, and if all my limbs resounded with”
“Chrysostom, tom.iii. p. 381 — 386, which the exordium is particularly beautiful.”
“Anyone who can’t figure out that this exordium is in jest and that the joke turns on the fact that Ann Coulter is not a moderate, is in severe need of remedial reading classes.”
“But if the preliminary declarations of the article (which would formerly have been called the exordium) are so markedly disinterested, what follows is generally much less so.”
“At present, since the exordium ought to be the main thing of all, we too will first of all give some precepts to lead to a system of opening a case properly.”
“We might recall the exordium, to which, in thought and to some extent in language, the great concluding doxology corresponds, while the two sections of the first part deal quite appropriately with the impressive words on the certainty of salvation and on God's exercise of providence and wisdom”
“But now orators call exordium anything with which they begin, and consider it of advantage to make the beginning with some brilliant thought.”
“His exordium is a specimen of the very worst possible taste in composition.”
A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume One
“The exordium is a passionate address to Captains all; amongst whom, who can more properly be reckoned than Captain Andrew?”
Boswell's Correspondence with the Honourable Andrew Erskine, and His Journal of a Tour to Corsica
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘exordium’.
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phrontistery - e
from phrontistery.info
eagre, earing, earwig, easement, eau-de-nil, ebberman, ebeneous, ?boulement, ebriection, ?brillade, ebrious, ebullioscope and 616 more...
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briwref's list
defalcation, macerate, beldam, nescience, ochlocracy, bibelot, estivate, spatulated, introversive, mastoidal, belletristic, objurgation and 108 more...
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Tristram Shandy
souse, meet, sententious, propound, boot, casuistry, avoirdupois, akimbo, disport, lenity, succussation, sweetbread and 152 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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Start or Beginning (noun)
Nouns meaning start or beginning
exordium, commencement, inception, initiation, preface, introduction, incipience, incipiency, prelimination, origination, origin, proem and 1 more...
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Metawords
Talking about talking, writing about writing, etc.
epizeuxis, tautological, aptote, bibliophagist, parataxis, scriptorium, aposiopesis, variorum, chantefable, boustrophedon, psellism, adoxography and 51 more...
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wanderstar's Words
superlative, mulish, mumps, catatonic, aquiline, clandestine, phantasmagoria, chryselephantine, microfiche, mutineer, reprobate, ruthless and 312 more...
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spicolli's Words
terrapin, ravenous, fuck, sepulchral, garlic, suss, queer, curmudgeon, foodie, intricate, omphalos, subversion and 534 more...
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ADW2
nudnik, temper, intercalate, cleave, scowl, chapfallen, malapropos, disport, annals, paean, paradisiacal, whet and 362 more...
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words
diplopic, dolorous, farrago, surety, scuttlebutt, Arabesque, infarct, neurasthenia, lambent, expurge, univocal, simper and 395 more...
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Preface
Nouns meaning preface
prologue, preamble, introduction, proem, prolegomenon, exordium, overture
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1380 more...
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smart pple werdz
petard, anxiogenic, paratactic, nonce, baldachin, eugenic, conflagration, innervate, counterfactual, corpuscular, reticulate, apodictic and 93 more...
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hagendas 2008
mise-en-scene, occultation, lodestone, obdurate, remontoire, filigree, insensate, carapace, vicissitude, verdigris, indivuation, intercalate and 224 more...
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fitting words
a list of words from the indo european root ar- and variations : to fit together
ambry, rede, coarctate, anarthrous, artiodactyl, exordium, harmony, army, armoire, arm, armada, armadillo and 349 more...
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Verbalitis
syncretic
anecdotal, phthisis, serendipitous, slapper, syncretic, sesquipedalian, hysteresis, polt, noyade, crocket, irenic, masquerade and 278 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for exordium.
jmjarmstrong JM loves a good exordium as long as we’ve been introduced properly. May 9, 2011
fbharjo exordium beginning to weave literally: used in the sense of "starting to implement a plan" Jan 22, 2007