Aesopian
[ ee-soh-pee-uhn, ee-sop-ee- ]
/ iˈsoʊ pi ən, iˈsɒp i- /
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adjective
of, relating to, or characteristic of Aesop or his fables: a story that points an Aesopian moral.
conveying meaning by hint, euphemism, innuendo, or the like: In the candidate's Aesopian language, “soft on Communism” was to be interpreted as “Communist sympathizer.”
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Aesop was a Greek slave who supposedly lived 620bc–560bc on the island of Samos and told animal fables that teach a lesson (e.g., “The Tortoise and the Hare”). The term Aesopian entered English much later . . . in the late 17th century.
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Also Ae·sop·ic [ee-sop-ik]. /iˈsɒp ɪk/.
Origin of Aesopian
Words nearby Aesopian
Aeschylus, Aesculapian, Aesculapius, Aesir, Aesop, Aesopian, Aesop's fables, aesthesia, aesthesio-, aesthesiodic, aesthesiogenesis
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for Aesopian
To sum up the characteristics of the Aesopian fable, it is artless, simple and transparent.
It is the Aesopian type that Aristotle has in view when he treats of the fable as a branch of rhetoric, not of poetry.
In it the Aesopian fable received a development which was in several respects quite original.