archetype
[ahr-ki-tahyp]
- the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
- (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.
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Origin of archetype
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for archetype
Contemporary Examples
Your main character breaks free from the archetype of the African-American novel: David is not black.
The calavera, or decorated skull, is an archetype of Mexican popular culture.
Roll Royce—you would expect nothing less from such a British archetype, right?
I believe an archetype was born in those years, that of the doughty British woman—proud, opinionated, but with a heart of gold.
Every episode ended with a heartfelt PSA, every character was an archetype, and every scene presented a new teenaged dilemma.
Historical Examples
With them we think of the artificial as the archetype; the earth-born as the erratic exception.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
In what relation does the archetype stand to the Creator himself?
TimaeusPlato
Such adaptations are, so to speak, grafted on the archetype.
Form and FunctionE. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
One program is the archetype for all the word processing that ever existed.
The Civilization of IlliteracyMihai Nadin
Nay, more, it is not only our mirror but our archetype for every thing.
archetype
- a perfect or typical specimen
- an original model or pattern; prototype
- psychoanal one of the inherited mental images postulated by Jung as the content of the collective unconscious
- a constantly recurring symbol or motif in literature, painting, etc
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin archetypum an original, from Greek arkhetupon, from arkhetupos first-moulded; see arch-, type
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for archetype
n.
"original pattern from which copies are made," 1540s, from Latin archetypum, from Greek arkhetypon "pattern, model, figure on a seal," neuter of adjective arkhetypos "first-moulded," from arkhe- "first" (see archon) + typos "model, type, blow, mark of a blow" (see type). Jungian psychology sense of "pervasive idea or image from the collective unconscious" is from 1919.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
archetype
(är′kĭ-tīp′)- An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned.
- In Jungian psychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic image that is derived from the past collective experience of humanity and is present in the unconscious of the individual.imago
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
archetype
[(ahr-ki-teyep)]
An original model after which other similar things are patterned. In the psychology of Carl Jung, archetypes are the images, patterns, and symbols (see also symbol) that rise out of the collective unconscious and appear in dreams, mythology, and fairy tales.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.