exemplify

[ig-zem-pluh-fahy]

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verb (used with object), ex·em·pli·fied, ex·em·pli·fy·ing.

to show or illustrate by example.
to furnish or serve as an example of: The plays of Wilde exemplify the comedy of manners.
Law. to transcribe or copy; make an attested copy of (a document) under seal.

Origin of exemplify

1375–1425; late Middle English exemplifien < Middle French exemplifier < Medieval Latin exemplificāre to copy. See exemplum, -ify

Related formsex·em·pli·fi·a·ble, adjectiveex·em·pli·fi·er, nounwell-ex·em·pli·fied, adjective

Synonyms for exemplify

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2. typify, epitomize, depict, embody.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for exemplify

represent, depict, illuminate, elucidate, mirror, manifest, typify, personify, epitomize, embody, demonstrate, symbolize, illustrate, body, exhibit, show, quote, evidence, instance, display

Examples from the Web for exemplify

Contemporary Examples of exemplify

Few Americans appear to exemplify that proposition better than Joseph P. Kennedy.
“The Patriarch”: Joseph Kennedy Sr.’s Outsized Life
Jacob Heilbrunn
November 21, 2012
“Thom Grey was created to exemplify a more youthful and university inspired sensibility,” the designer told WWD.
Mary-Kate Olsen Moves In; 20,000 Pairs of Fake Louboutins Seized
The Daily Beast
August 17, 2012
He was not Hugh Hefner, who used his house to exemplify his sexual values.
Why I Admired a Porn King
Alan M. Dershowitz
October 22, 2010

Historical Examples of exemplify

If he succeeds, he will, of course, exemplify the wisdom of having two strings to his bow.
Great Astronomers
R. S. Ball
To the sound ou he prefixes an e (hard to exemplify otherwise than orally).
The Biglow Papers
James Russell Lowell
France has a right to exemplify the Jacquard in its fulness, for it is hers.
Lippincott's Magazine, December 1878
Various
Truly they exemplify the old proverb, "Some must sow, that others may reap."
Little Folks (July 1884)
Various
In No. 88, the eaglets also exemplify the disposition of charges upon a Bend.
The Handbook to English Heraldry
Charles Boutell

British Dictionary definitions for exemplify

exemplify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied (tr)

to show by example
to serve as an example of
law
1. to make an official copy of (a document from public records) under seal
2. to transcribe (a legal document)

Derived Formsexemplifiable, adjectiveexemplification, nounexemplificative, adjectiveexemplifier, noun

Word Origin for exemplify

C15: via Old French from Medieval Latin exemplificāre, from Latin exemplum example + facere to make

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

Word Origin and History for exemplify

early 15c., "to illustrate by examples, to instruct by (good) example," from Medieval Latin exemplificare "to illustrate," from Latin exemplum (see example). Meaning "to serve as an example" is recorded from 1793. Related: Exemplified; exemplifies; exemplifying.