exemplum
Americannoun
-
exempla
plural
-
an example or model.
-
an anecdote that illustrates or supports a moral point, as in a medieval sermon.
noun
-
an anecdote that supports a moral point or sustains an argument, used esp in medieval sermons
-
an example or illustration
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of exemplum
1885–90; < Late Latin, Latin: literally, a pattern, model, copy
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.
See Examples For:
It has a palace standing in extensive grounds, a gymnasium, a normal seminary, a library, a synagogue, and three churches, one of which has the appropriate inscription, Religionis non structurae exemplum.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various
But the Council pronounced against her, ordering restitution, and a fine of 200 lire over and above "ut ceteris transeat in exemplum."
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Henry Yule
Certainly the convent never went to sleep in a sermon which had the tale of Chauntecleer and Pertelote for its exemplum.
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Eileen Power
Oh! yes, ma mie, I know you well, madame, and my brother of France also, he who speaks so well of you in this letter, and adds, 'Fiat sanum exemplum statim, atque res certior eveniet.'
From The Forty-Five Guardsmen by Alexandre Dumas père
The Welsh Methodists, ad exemplum, marched with this Calvinistic branch—as they do today.
From The Story of the Hymns and Tunes by Theron Brown
J. Small, Edinburgh, 1862, 8vo, homilies interspersed with exempla, compiled ab.
From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jean Jules Jusserand
On the whole subject of exempla see the Introduction to T. F. Crane’s edition of the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, and the references given there.
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Eileen Power
When Newton said, ``In addiscendis scientiis exempla plus prosunt, quam praecepta,'' he was not addressing criminalists, but he might have been.
From Criminal Psychology; a manual for judges, practitioners, and students by Hans Gustav Adolf Gross
Caesarius narrates a great many other exempla concerning nuns, but I have quoted the most characteristic.
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Eileen Power
Latin, 146, with "exempla," 154, English, 205 ff., in Chaucer, 335, 354, in Langland, 387, by Wyclif, 434.
From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jean Jules Jusserand
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.
