Epitome

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əˈpɪt.ə.mi/

Definitions

1. A person or thing that is a perfect or typical example of something, or the highest point of excellence in a particular quality
2. a perfect embodiment or supreme representation of a particular quality, idea, or category
3. the most complete and characteristic expression of something, serving as its ideal standard

Etymology: The Greek verb "temnein" meant "to cut," and "epitemnein" meant to cut upon the surface or cut short. From that came "epitomē," a noun for an abridgment, a shortened version of a longer text, and also a surface incision. A summary that cuts a long work down to its essentials is, in that sense, a cut-down version of the whole, and the word's central idea of compression is already present in its earliest sense. The word passed into Latin as "epitomē" and then into Middle French, which is how it reached English. Its original meaning stayed close to the literal: a condensed treatment of a book or subject. Over time, the sense shifted from the act of abridging to the thing that most fully embodies a quality. Someone who was a condensed version of a whole category became the perfect representative of it, and that is the modern meaning, the ideal example of a kind.

Synonyms: embodiment, paragon, representation

Antonyms: antithesis