typify

[tip-uh-fahy]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR typify ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), typ·i·fied, typ·i·fy·ing.

to serve as a typical example of; exemplify.

to serve as a symbol or emblem of; symbolize; prefigure.

to represent by a type or symbol.

Origin of typify

1625–35; < Latin typ(us) type + -ify

Related formstyp·i·fi·ca·tion, nountyp·i·fi·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for typified

exemplify, epitomize, personify, mirror, embody, symbolize, illustrate, model, incarnate, describe, feature, mean, emblematize

Examples from the Web for typified

Contemporary Examples of typified

Eulogizing Vidal was to eulogize the now long-gone epoch he typified.
Gore Vidal Epitomized an Era When Writers Were Like Rock Stars
Malcolm Jones
August 2, 2012

Historical Examples of typified

She typified that youth and hope that he had felt slipping away from him.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
It was the rush and roar of rain that he typified, and it stopped him, for no voice could be heard in it.
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
Ptah typified at once the working power and the truthfulness of God.
The Cat of Bubastes
G. A. Henty
And so God, by this sprinkling, has typified the spiritual sprinkling.
The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude Preached and Explained
Martin Luther
He typified the spirit of joy to me—there was never a moment when he had not some vivid plan for me.
Glory of Youth
Temple Bailey

British Dictionary definitions for typified

typify

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

to be typical of; characterize

to symbolize or represent completely, by or as if by a type

Derived Formstypification, nountypifier, noun

Word Origin for typify

C17: from Latin typus type + -ify

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 typified

typify

1630s, "to represent by a symbol," from Latin typus (see type (n.)) + -fy. Meaning "to serve as a typical specimen of some class, etc." is attested from 1854.