palmary
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of palmary
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin palmārius “of, deserving a palm (of victory)”; see palm 2, -ary
Explanation
Something that is palmary is outstanding and worthy of praise. If your school goes way beyond the target in fundraising for a charity, that's a palmary achievement. The word palmary harks back to ancient Rome, where a palm branch was awarded to the winner of a race or other public contest. The Latin word palma gave us our word palm, and Latin palmarius, meaning "worthy of a palm branch," is the source of palmary. Palmary is usually used to describe a thing rather than a person, often an excellent specimen of a particular type: "This movie is a palmary example of film noir."
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.
Our body itself is the palmary instance of the ambiguous.
From Essays in Radical Empiricism by William James
Whether we betake ourselves to the Ante-nicene writers or the Nicene, certain texts will meet us, which do not obviously refer to that doctrine, yet are put forward as palmary proofs of it.
From An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine by John Henry Cardinal Newman
Yet this is what M. Bergson does in his whole defence of metaphysical vitalism, and especially in the instance of the evolution of eyes by two different methods, which is his palmary argument.
From Winds Of Doctrine Studies in Contemporary Opinion by George Santayana
The Progress of Philosophy or of Wisdom is a palmary instance of progress achieved out of the internal resources of that which progresses.
From Progress and History by Francis Sydney Marvin
Each of the palmary sites of which we have spoken has rendered up examples of early Greek temples.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4 "Grasshopper" to "Greek Language" by Various
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.
