epitomize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to contain or represent in small compass; serve as a typical example of; typify.
This meadow epitomizes the beauty of the whole area.
-
to make an epitome of.
to epitomize an argument.
verb
-
to be a personification of; typify
-
to make an epitome of
Other Word Forms
- epitomist noun
- epitomization noun
- epitomizer noun
- unepitomized adjective
Etymology
Origin of epitomize
Explanation
If you epitomize something, you’re a perfect example of that thing. If you never get nervous when playing basketball and can always make that last-second shot, your teammates might say you epitomize mental toughness. A person can epitomize something — usually an abstract quality, like grace or greed — but epitomize can apply to other things as well. A popular band might epitomize the spirit of the new decade, which means it has all the main characteristics associated with the era's music, like long folksy beards, pretty harmonies, and earnest lyrics. A frustrating situation at work involving careless coworkers might make you say that they epitomize everything that’s wrong with your job.
Vocabulary lists containing epitomize
The Color of Water
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Into Thin Air
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Harriet Tubman
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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.
The two entrepreneurs came to epitomize a certain swagger of the first hype cycle roughly a decade ago when Silicon Valley was betting it could replace a world of human-driven cars with robots.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026
Both are trailblazing politicians, mixed-raced children with unusual names, whose biographies epitomize the nation’s changing face.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2024
“Water projects came to epitomize the pork barrel; they were the oil can that lubricated the nation’s legislative machinery.”
From Slate • Aug. 28, 2024
In browsing print shops and bookstores, I found and bought illustrated books by designers whose styles epitomize art nouveau, Art Deco, and the arts and crafts aesthetic.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 8, 2023
The time-tested strategy of using those who epitomize moral virtue as symbols in racial justice campaigns is far more difficult to employ in efforts to reform the criminal justice system.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
