First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin; cf. here ( def. ); Homo ( def. )
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The hero is haunted by the notion that a great misfortune will fall upon his family, whenever a travelling dealer shall offer an ecce homo for sale to any one of its members.
From The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 by Various
"What are you making such an ecce homo face for?" she said, in her brusquest tone, which now stood her in good stead in concealing her emotion.
From In Paradise A Novel. Vol. II by Heyse, Paul
This flattered Goethe, who called it the inverse "ecce homo," and felt its allusion to his citizenship, not in Germany, but in the world.
From The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte Vol. III. (of IV.) by Sloane, William Milligan
Only don't make such an ecce homo face; go, rather, and pay your respects to his Excellency, the Governor.
From Tales From J?kai by J?kai, M?r
A common term for an emaciated-looking man is to call him an "ecce homo," and a "grippe Jésus" is thieves' slang for a gendarme.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 88, April, 1875 by Various
Cecilia Giménez, an elderly woman from Borja, northeast Spain, became famous 13 years ago after she attempted to restore the century-old painting titled Ecce Homo that was held in her local church.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
“Since its reappearance at an auction three years ago, Ecce Homo has represented one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art,” the museum said.
From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2024
Yes, this is the Ecce Homo of China, but only because an utterly insignificant artifact that nobody cared about was raised to artificially high prominence by a mediocre preservation attempt.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2016
The fourth plinth contemporary art commission is now a firmly established fixture following the first one – Mark Wallinger's Ecce Homo in 1999.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 19, 2010
Ecce Femina I might have been saying to myself, as a pendant in expression to the Ecce Homo of the Prætorium.
From The High Heart by King, Basil
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.
