epigone

American  

[ep-i-gohn] / ˈɛp ɪˌgoʊn /

Also epigon

noun

1. an undistinguished imitator, follower, or successor of an important writer, painter, etc.

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epigone British  

/ ˈɛpɪˌɡəʊn, ˈɛpɪˌɡɒn /

noun

1. rare an inferior follower or imitator

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Other Word Forms

• epigonic adjective
• epigonism noun

Etymology

Origin of epigone

First recorded in 1860–65; from Latin epigonus, from Greek epígonos “(one) born afterward,” equivalent to epi- + -gonos, akin to gígnesthai “to be born, become”; epi-

Example Sentences

Were Lowell nearly as cruel in his rather anodyne and flattering portraits of his literary mentors, friends and epigones, the “Life Among Writers” section of “Memoirs” would be immeasurably more interesting.

From New York Times

It’s unfair to blame Szeemann for the faults of his epigones.

From The New Yorker

Though Le Corbusier helped master plan the city of Chandigarh in India, and epigones pursued this vision in Cambodia and Sri Lanka, it was Japan that would take up Corbusianism most powerfully.

From New York Times

The closer stylistic juxtaposition would be to Mozart, but Gaveaux is an epigone with little of the Viennese master’s effervescence.

From Washington Post

He talks about Beethoven, Goya and El Greco, and at one juncture uses the word “epigone”, which I subsequently have to look up in a dictionary.

From The Guardian