exemplify
Americanverb
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to show by example
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to serve as an example of
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law
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to make an official copy of (a document from public records) under seal
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to transcribe (a legal document)
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of exemplify
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English exemplifien, from Middle French exemplifier, from Medieval Latin exemplificāre “to copy”; See exemplum, -ify
Explanation
If you exemplify something, you're the perfect example of it. Say you wear frilly shirts, knee-high boots, and black eye-make-up — you exemplify the fashion world's obsession with pirates. Exemplifying something can also mean make it clearer by offering an illustration or an example. If you want to exemplify your argument that, say, pirate gear is fashionable, you might want to show your friends some pictures of celebrities wearing eye patches.
Vocabulary lists containing exemplify
Power Suffix: -fy
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Grade 9, List 2
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The AP English Exam: Rhetorical and Literary Terms 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Exemplify the sibilant impurity with such syllables as pish, false, traitress, miscreant.
From The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 by Ontario. Ministry of Education
Exemplify the false reasoning arising from the confusion of Contrary and Contradictory Terms.
From Logic Deductive and Inductive by Read, Carveth
Exemplify, egz-em′pli-fī, v.t. to illustrate by example: to make an attested copy of: to prove by an attested copy:—pr.p. exem′plifying; pa.p. exem′plified.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
