epitome Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a standard or typical example
    prototype; image; paradigm.
    • he is the prototype of good breeding
    • he provided America with an image of the good father
  2. noun a brief abstract (as of an article or book)

WordNet

E*pit"o*me noun
Etymology
L., fr. Gr. a surface incision, also, and abridgment, fr. to cut into, cut short; upon + to cut: cf. F. épitome. See Tome.
Wordforms
plural Epitomes
Definitions
  1. A work in which the contents of a former work are reduced within a smaller space by curtailment and condensation; a brief summary; an abridgement.
    [An] epitome of the contents of a very large book. Sydney Smith.
  2. A compact or condensed representation of anything.
    An epitome of English fashionable life. Carlyle.
    A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome. Dryden.
    Syn. -- Abridgement; compendium; compend; abstract; synopsis; abbreviature. See Abridgment.

Webster 1913