embody
Americanverb (used with object)
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to give a concrete form to; express, personify, or exemplify in concrete form.
to embody an idea in an allegorical painting.
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to provide with a body incarnate; make corporeal.
to embody a spirit.
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to collect into or include in a body; organize; incorporate.
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to embrace or comprise.
verb
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to give a tangible, bodily, or concrete form to (an abstract concept)
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to be an example of or express (an idea, principle, etc), esp in action
his gentleness embodies a Christian ideal
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(often foll by in) to collect or unite in a comprehensive whole, system, etc; comprise; include
all the different essays were embodied in one long article
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to invest (a spiritual entity) with a body or with bodily form; render incarnate
Other Word Forms
- embodier noun
- embodiment noun
- preembody verb (used with object)
- reembody verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of embody
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.
Few institutions embody France’s cultural inheritance as fully as the Louvre, whose galleries trace the arc of civilizations while reflecting the French state’s centuries-old role as custodian of artistic treasure.
“The Year Room” is a collection of Ash Roberts’ delicate landscape paintings, which reveal a poetic understanding of the natural world and a soft yet embodied color palette.
From Los Angeles Times
"I was never quite interested in being the star of my own show – but as I grew as an artist, I had to embody that," she explains.
From BBC
The grand marshal of the festival, Butler, who lost his longtime home in Altadena in last year’s Eaton fire, embodies the event’s theme of passing the baton to the next generation.
From Los Angeles Times
The book he writes about Lalo develops his thesis that Creole culture embodies the “collective spirit” needed to heal a country riven by racial division and civil strife.
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.
