exegesis
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of exegesis
1610–20; < Greek exḗgēsis an interpretation, explanation, equivalent to ex- ex- 3 + ( h ) ēgē- (verbid stem of hēgeîsthai to guide) + -sis -sis
Compare meaning
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Explanation
If your teacher gives an explanation of a difficult text you are reading, she is giving you an exegesis on it. An exegesis is a critical look at a text. Exegesis comes from the Greek word for interpret and it's often used in connection with the Bible. Often times, religious rules are based on an exegesis of a text. For instance, some Jewish people do not eat meat and dairy in the same meal based on an exegesis of a law in the Torah that says you should not eat a calf cooked in its mother's milk.
Vocabulary lists containing exegesis
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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.
By turns comical and deeply affecting, “The Golden Boy” is heavy on back story, family history, Canadian history and geography, and on what Aristotle and friends would call exegesis.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Because he decided he wasn’t obligated to, based on his own personal exegesis of whatever rules he chose to consider that one day.
From Slate • May 3, 2023
In such a widening gyre, Mounk’s calm mix of storytelling, political theory and social psychology exegesis, peppered with some charming insights, has a comforting seriousness.
From Washington Post • Apr. 29, 2022
Round and round Poirot goes, as does the circling camerawork, before he performs the reliably satisfying triple-axel-twisty feat of exegesis in front of the suspects.
From New York Times • Feb. 10, 2022
As Martin J. S. Rudwick puts it, "No geologist of any nationality whose work was taken seriously by other geologists advocated a timescale confined within the limits of a literalistic exegesis of Genesis."
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
