epithet (redirected from epithetical)

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.

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[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.]

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epi·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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epithet

Noun

a word or short phrase used to describe someone or something: these tracks truly deserve that overworked epithet `classic' [Greek epitithenai to add]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	epithet - a defamatory or abusive word or phrase name calumniation, calumny, defamation, hatchet job, traducement, obloquy - a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions smear word - an epithet that can be used to smear someone's reputation; "he used the smear word `communist' for everyone who disagreed with him"
	2.	epithet - descriptive word or phrase characterisation, characterization, delineation, depiction, word picture, word-painting, picture - a graphic or vivid verbal description; "too often the narrative was interrupted by long word pictures"; "the author gives a depressing picture of life in Poland"; "the pamphlet contained brief characterizations of famous Vermonters"

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epithet

noun name, title, description, tag, nickname, designation, appellation, sobriquet, moniker or monicker (slang) obscenity, blasphemy, swear word, imprecation

Translations

epithet [ˈɛpɪθɛt] n → epíteto

epithet [ˈɛpɪθɛt] n → épithète f

epithet [ˈɛpɪθɛt] n → Beiname m

epithet [ˈɛpɪθɛt] n → epiteto