Exampling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Showing a particular quality or principle by means of a clear, representative instance or model
2. Serving as an illustrative case that makes a general rule or idea easier to understand
3. Demonstrating a point through a typical instance, so that others can see what is meant

Etymology: "Exampling" is simply the present participle of "example," so its story is really the story of the verb. The root sits in Latin "exemplum," meaning a sample or pattern, and its literal sense was "what is taken out," from "eximere," to take out. The idea is that a single specimen is pulled out of a larger whole to stand for the rest. That same logic runs through the verb: to example something is to take one instance out and let it show what the whole is like. English picked up the noun in Middle English through Old French, where it appeared as "essaumple" and "example." Before that borrowing, English already had its own words for the idea, "forebisne" and "bisne," which were displaced and eventually died out, so the Latin-derived form took over entirely.

Synonyms: exemplifying, illustrating