epigram
Americannoun
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any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely expressed.
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epigrammatic expression.
Oscar Wilde had a genius for epigram.
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a short, often satirical poem dealing concisely with a single subject and usually ending with a witty or ingenious turn of thought.
noun
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a witty, often paradoxical remark, concisely expressed
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a short, pungent, and often satirical poem, esp one having a witty and ingenious ending
Discover More
Two other words are similar: an epigraph is usually an inscription, as on a statue; an epitaph can be such an inscription or it can be a brief literary note commemorating a dead person.
Several authors are noted for their epigrams, including Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde. One of Wilde's epigrams is “I can resist everything except temptation.”
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of epigram
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin epigramma < Greek epígramma inscription, epigram. See epi-, -gram 1
Explanation
An epigram is a short, clever remark. One of Oscar Wilde's many memorable epigrams is "I can resist everything but temptation." Epigram comes from the Latin word epigramma, which means "an inscription." If you've ever seen an inscription on, say, the back of a watch, you know the writing has to be brief. It won't surprise you, then, that epigrams are very short poems, sayings, or famous quotations, like Benjamin Franklin's "Little strokes fell great oaks," a memorable reminder to keep working toward big goals or to pay attention to little details, the opposite of an epigram from our era: "Don't sweat the small stuff."
Vocabulary lists containing epigram
The Great Gatsby
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Write On!: Graph and Gram
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"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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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.
Holmes’ feed is a babbling stream of self-help epigrams, ankle-deep reflections and many, many photos of herself.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 7, 2025
The epigrams she presents at the beginning are weird.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
Among Burke's epigrams are such copybook maxims as "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
From Salon • Jul. 1, 2023
Elements of his signature style already figure in this piece of juvenilia, including such epigrams as “Marriage nowadays is nothing but a temporary refuge for those who are uncomfortable at home.”
From New York Times • Nov. 24, 2022
I vacuumed books for epigrams, scraps of information, ideas, themes—anything to fill the hollow within me and make me feel educated.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
