exemplar
[ig-zem-pler, -plahr]
- a model or pattern to be copied or imitated: Washington is the exemplar of patriotic virtue.
- a typical example or instance.
- an original or archetype: Plato thought nature but a copy of ideal exemplars.
- a copy of a book or text.
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Origin of exemplar
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin, variant of exemplāre, noun use of neuter of exemplāris exemplary; replacing Middle English exaumplere < Middle French examplaire < Latin exemplāris
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
epitomeparagonarchetypeprototypepatternspecimencopyillustrationstandardinstancecriterionmodelparadigmtypeexamplemirrorexemplificationExamples from the Web for exemplar
Contemporary Examples
The novel is simultaneously a celebration and an exemplar of the joys of storytelling.
Those who loved Pete will miss him desperately, and cherish his memory as an exemplar of integrity, courage, and grace under fire.
But by what stretch of imagination was he an exemplar of “heroic virtue,” as the Vatican has just decreed?
Historical Examples
The principle of these two young ladies is proposed as an exemplar to her sex.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
No mention now of the Eurasian exemplar, the synthetic "over-man."
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
It might be truthfully said of her, that she was an exemplar for all who knew her.
Oration on the Life and Character of Henry Winter DavisJohn A. J. Creswell
But its development was scarcely appreciable, from lack of opportunity and of exemplar.
Four Years in Rebel CapitalsT. C. DeLeon
Who would expect Sir Sidney Lee to have had so remote an exemplar?
A Boswell of BaghdadE. V. Lucas
exemplar
- a person or thing to be copied or imitated; model
- a typical specimen or instance; example
- a copy of a book or text on which further printings have been based
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin exemplarium model, from exemplum example
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for exemplar
n.
late 14c., "original model of the universe in the mind of God," later (mid-15c.) "model of virtue," from Old French exemplaire (14c.) and directly from Late Latin exemplarium, from Latin exemplum (see example).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper