locus classicus

American  

[loh-koos klahs-si-koos, loh-kuhs klas-i-kuhs] / ˈloʊ kʊs ˈklɑs sɪˌkʊs, ˈloʊ kəs ˈklæs ɪ kəs /

noun

Latin.

• loci classici
  plural

1. classical source: a passage commonly cited to illustrate or explain a subject or word.

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locus classicus British  

/ ˈklæsɪkəs /

noun

1. an authoritative and often quoted passage from a standard work

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• loci classici
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of locus classicus

Latin: classical place

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

locus classicus

Samuel R. Delany’s “Dhalgren” is perhaps the most famous recent example, but the locus classicus remains David Lindsay’s “A Voyage to Arcturus.”

From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2021

Saval ties his essay to “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” Herman Melville’s locus classicus of clerical work.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 27, 2016

The locus classicus of this method was a recording of a blunt call between State Department official Toria Nuland and the American ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pyatt.

From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2016

Perhaps the locus classicus is the 1977 movie Looking for Mr Goodbar, written and directed by Richard Brooks.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 17, 2015

The following sections of this book are the locus classicus for these popular superstitions.

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler

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