example

English Online Dictionary. What means example‎? What does example mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English example, exaumple, from Old French example, essaumple, from Latin exemplum (“sample, pattern, specimen, copy for imitation, etc.”, literally “what is taken out”); see exempt. Doublet of exemplum and sample. Displaced native Middle English forebisne, from Old English forebȳsn; and Middle English bisne, from Old English bȳsn (modern English bizen).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzɑːm.pəl/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzam.pəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzæm.pəl/, [ɪɡˈzɛəmpəɫ]
• (US, General Australian, weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /əɡˈzæm.pəl/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /əɡˈzaːm.pəl/, [ɘɡˈzɐːmpɯ]
• Hyphenation: ex‧am‧ple
• Rhymes: -ɑːmpəl, -æmpəl

Noun

example (plural examples)

1. Something that is representative of all such things in a group.
2. Something that serves to illustrate or explain a rule.
3. Something that serves as a pattern of behaviour to be imitated (a good example) or not to be imitated (a bad example).
4. A person punished as a warning to others.
5. A parallel or closely similar case, especially when serving as a precedent or model.
6. An instance (as a problem to be solved) serving to illustrate the rule or precept or to act as an exercise in the application of the rule.

Synonyms

• byspel (nonstandard)
• exemplar
• exemplificator (formal)
• exemplum
• e.g.
• See also Thesaurus:model
• See also Thesaurus:exemplar

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• exemplar
• model
• pattern
• quotation
• template

Verb

example (third-person singular simple present examples, present participle exampling, simple past and past participle exampled)

1. To be illustrated or exemplified (by). (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Further reading

• “example”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “example”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “example”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “example”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• example in Britannica Dictionary
• example in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
• example in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• example in WordReference English Collocations

Anagrams

• exempla