locus classicus

American  

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

noun

Latin.

plural

loci classici

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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Etymology

Origin of locus classicus

Latin: classical place

Example Sentences

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

In 2003, as an actual politician, Johnson disavowed this insight into his behavior as a young man: “I think my essay remains the locus classicus of the English genre of bogus self-deprecation.”

From The New Yorker • Jun. 13, 2019

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

For Vertumnus the locus classicus is Propert. v.

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