epos

American  

[ep-os] / ˈɛp ɒs /

noun

1. an epic.

2. epic poetry.

3. a group of poems, transmitted orally, concerned with parts of a common epic theme.

4. a series of events suitable for treatment in epic poetry.

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epos ¹ British  

/ ˈɛpɒs /

noun

1. a body of poetry in which the tradition of a people is conveyed, esp a group of poems concerned with a common epic theme

2. another word for epic

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EPOS ² British  

/ ˈiːpɒs /

acronym

1. electronic point of sale

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Etymology

Origin of epos

1825–35; < Latin < Greek épos speech, tale, song; akin to Latin vōx voice, Sanskrit vácas word, hymn

Example Sentences

A listener sitting through the whole of the “Ring” — Wagner’s four-opera epos about the birth and destruction of a civilization — has to wait two and a half hours for the first relatable human interaction.

From New York Times

What came across in the documentary as an uncomfortable mix produces a satisfying combination in an outsized epos like this one, the two impulses tempering and complementing each other.

From The New Yorker

Retailing for £1,000, sales soon boomed, with the company advertising on Google, paying "5p a click" whenever someone in the UK typed in the word "epos".

From BBC

Perhaps for the first time in Jewish history, our epos was not only about surviving annihilation, but also about human bonding across a national and religious chasm: the coming together of the different.

From Newsweek

There lay the greatness of the heroic epos for readers of old,—the sense of human littleness, the melancholy of broken aspirations, swallowed up in the transcending sublimity of man's endurance and daring.

From Project Gutenberg