ep·i·thet ( p  -tht )n. 1. a. A term used to characterize a person or thing, such as rosy-fingered in rosy-fingered dawn or the Great in Catherine the Great. b. A term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title of a person, such as The Great Emancipator for Abraham Lincoln. 2. An abusive or contemptuous word or phrase. 3. 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. [Latin epitheton, from Greek, neuter of epithetos, added, attributed, from epitithenai, epithe-, to add to : epi-, epi- + tithenai, to place; see dh  - in Indo-European roots.]ep i·thetic, epi·theti·cal adj.Usage Note: Strictly speaking, an epithet need not be derogatory, but the term is commonly used as a simple synonym for term of abuse or slur, as in There is no place for racial epithets in a police officer's vocabulary. This usage is accepted by 80 percent of the Usage Panel. |
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