epitomize
Americanverb (used with object)
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epitomizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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epitomized,
past participle, past
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epitomizing
present participle
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to contain or represent in small compass; serve as a typical example of; typify.
This meadow epitomizes the beauty of the whole area.
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to make an epitome of.
to epitomize an argument.
verb
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to be a personification of; typify
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to make an epitome of
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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epitomizesimple
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epitomizessimple
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have epitomizedperfect
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has epitomizedperfect
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am epitomizingprogressive
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are epitomizingprogressive
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is epitomizingprogressive
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have been epitomizingperfect progressive
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has been epitomizingperfect progressive
Past
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epitomizedsimple
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had epitomizedperfect
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was epitomizingprogressive
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were epitomizingprogressive
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had been epitomizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of epitomize
Explanation
If you epitomize something, you’re a perfect example of that thing. If you never get nervous when playing basketball and can always make that last-second shot, your teammates might say you epitomize mental toughness. A person can epitomize something — usually an abstract quality, like grace or greed — but epitomize can apply to other things as well. A popular band might epitomize the spirit of the new decade, which means it has all the main characteristics associated with the era's music, like long folksy beards, pretty harmonies, and earnest lyrics. A frustrating situation at work involving careless coworkers might make you say that they epitomize everything that’s wrong with your job.
Vocabulary lists containing epitomize
The Color of Water
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Into Thin Air
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Harriet Tubman
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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.
See Examples For:
The two entrepreneurs came to epitomize a certain swagger of the first hype cycle roughly a decade ago when Silicon Valley was betting it could replace a world of human-driven cars with robots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
Both are trailblazing politicians, mixed-raced children with unusual names, whose biographies epitomize the nation’s changing face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2024
More than any other ocean-dwelling creature, they epitomize the movement to save, as the saying goes, wildlife in the ocean.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2024
In browsing print shops and bookstores, I found and bought illustrated books by designers whose styles epitomize art nouveau, Art Deco, and the arts and crafts aesthetic.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2023
The time-tested strategy of using those who epitomize moral virtue as symbols in racial justice campaigns is far more difficult to employ in efforts to reform the criminal justice system.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Since its excellence needs no explaining, here are a few others that are as worthy of our appreciation, including a heartwarming duet that epitomizes Parton’s universal appeal.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
The fund, founded in 1929, epitomizes Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle’s values —own a balanced mix of stocks and bonds, and keep your costs down.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
“Because the state is young and its cities and institutions are not bound by the weight of tradition,” he wrote in 2002, “like an unfinished canvas, Arizona still epitomizes the frontier.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
The moment epitomizes the approach of this adaptation, which begins its world-premiere run Tuesday at La Jolla Playhouse: take the most memorable parts of the movie and turn up the volume for the stage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2025
Lawson's comment on Parson Simpson's service epitomizes two centuries of New England thinking.
From The American Mind The E. T. Earl Lectures by Bliss Perry
Kalanick succeeded with Uber with what many saw as a win-at-all-costs strategy epitomized in his staff instructions: “Cheat codes. Find them. Use them.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Throughout his prolific career, he created many pieces that epitomized the city’s sun-drenched landscapes filled with glittering pools, rolling hills and lush foliage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
Ruby Cochrane and Olga Nikolaeva epitomized the mindset Mira Costa brought to Saturday afternoon’s Southern Section Division 1 girls’ beach volleyball championship match at Long Beach City College.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026
That heritage gave both him and the backcountry settlers he epitomized their combative sense of equality and dignity—rooted in the history of British impositions on their ancestral lands in Ulster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
Both laws epitomized the ethos of the Nationalist government, which pretended to preserve what they were attempting to destroy.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
A deal epitomizing the new era of resource nationalism was unveiled Wednesday when Glencore agreed to sell a stake in two African copper mines to a consortium backed by the U.S. government.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 4, 2026
This idea — of Earth's lifeforms as epitomizing a collective, life-cultivating system — has a long history: the ancient Greeks called Earth "Gaia," the mother of all life.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2022
Maris started the 1961 season epitomizing the idea that baseball was a matter of running down flyballs, stretching singles into doubles, bunting cleanly and knocking the occasional home run.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 6, 2022
The hitting is far more to blame than the pitching for their struggles, and if you’re looking for a pair of players epitomizing the offensive disappointment, it’s Frazier and Winker.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 19, 2022
Having no illusions, and being a severely practical man, Vanderbilt well knew the pretensions of this trading class; with many a cynical remark, aptly epitomizing the point, he often made sport of their assumptions.
From Great Fortunes from Railroads by Gustavus Myers
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.
