exegesis

[ ek-si-jee-sis ]

/ ˌɛk sɪˈdʒi sɪs /

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noun, plural ex·e·ge·ses

[ek-si-jee-seez]. /ˌɛk sɪˈdʒi siz/.

critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, especially of the Bible.

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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

Words nearby exegesis

executive session, executor, executory, executrix, exedra, exegesis, exegete, exegetic, exegetical, exegetics, exemia

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use exegesis in a sentence

It isn’t easy to animate complex notions using only the standard tools of character and plot without the whole enterprise collapsing beneath the weight of exegesis.
With ‘Double Blind,’ Edward St. Aubyn tasks himself with a formidable challenge|Charles Arrowsmith|June 11, 2021|Washington Post
His by far most moving and lucid exegesis comes smack in the middle of his book, where in “Tales of the Wounded Healer” Kearney traces the lineages of touch and healing among the ancient and biblical.
Exploring the sense of touch, and why we hunger for contact|Sophie Dess|February 26, 2021|Washington Post
But I think there was a peculiar kind of Jewish Americaness also in that fascination with constitutional law and legal exegesis.
Tony Lewis, American, Jew, Remembered|Bernard Avishai|October 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Almost all Christians, even most textualists, accept the need for exegesis, synthesis, and theological application.
The Illusory Promise of Apolitical Theology|David Sessions|June 2, 2012|DAILY BEAST

The show at the Grand Palais always provides a short exegesis on the sociology of status.
Paris’s Fashion Finale|Robin Givhan|October 6, 2011|DAILY BEAST
There was a long exegesis on genetics, how we would live to be 125 or was it 124, how he controlled his blood pressure by thought.
Courting Brando|Harold Evans|December 19, 2008|DAILY BEAST
It seemed to me that there must be a defect in the translation, and an erroneous exegesis; but where was the source of the error?
My Religion|Leo Tolstoy
But little exegesis is needed for a right comprehension of the true and substantial import of the work.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume XIII|John Lord
Against all such superficialities of exegesis alike our safeguard must be a broad common-sense induction.
Montaigne and Shakspere|John M. Robertson
And they worked this unhistorical belief to its breaking point in their Biblical exegesis.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy|Isaac Husik
It needs not our saying that it must be an extraordinary mode of exegesis that can find such things in such unusual places.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy|Isaac Husik

British Dictionary definitions for exegesis

exegesis

/ (ˌɛksɪˈdʒiːsɪs) /

noun plural -ses (-siːz)

explanation or critical interpretation of a text, esp of the BibleCompare eisegesis

Word Origin for exegesis

C17: from Greek, from exēgeisthai to interpret, from ex- 1 + hēgeisthai to guide

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

exegesis

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Origin of exegesis

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British Dictionary definitions for exegesis

Word Origin for exegesis