Archetype

/ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ · noun

Meaning

An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned..

Definitions by Sense

1. An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned.
2. An ideal example of something; a quintessence.
3. (literature) A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story.
4. (psychology) According to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung: a universal pattern of thought, present in an individual's unconscious, inherited from the past collective experience of humanity.
5. (textual criticism) A protograph (“original manuscript of a text from which all further copies derive”).
6. To depict as, model using, or otherwise associate an object or subject with an archetype.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: prototype (sometimes synonymous)

According to that Cabaliſticall Dogma: If Abram had not had this Letter [i.e., ה (he)] added unto his Name he had remained fruitleſſe, and without the power of generation: […] So that being ſterill before, he received the power of generation from that meaſure and manſion in the Archetype; and was made conformable unto Binah.

Sir Edward Newenden, a married man, the guardian of Ethelinde at the deceaſe of her father, and who is enamoured of his ward, is evidently a copy, in the outline, or Mr. Monckton in the novel of Cecilia. His manners, however, are of a much more engaging nature than thoſe of his archetype.

Outlines of the chief developments of the dermoskeleton, in different vertebrates, which are usually more or less ossified, are added to the endoskeletal archetype: as, e.g. the median horn supported by the nasal spine […] in the rhinoceros; […]

Now these plans, models, original patterns, existing in God's mind before He made a single plant or a single animal, are what we mean by Archetypes. An archetype, therefore, is not a real, actual, objective thing, existing independent of the copy, or of God. It is only a plan, a model, an original pattern in God's mind—an idea, or thought of God.

The Bishop [of Gloucester, William Warburton] asserts there is no Archetype, because eloquence is a variable thing, depending on custom and fashion; […] there is no Archetype in nature of perfect eloquence; its very constituent parts, as they are deemed, having no substance or reality in them.

“New Kid On The Block” doubles as a terrific showcase for the Sea Captain who, in the grand tradition of Simpsons supporting characters, quickly goes from being a stereotype to an archetype, from being a crusty sea-captain character to the crusty sea-captain character.

Archetypes are figures and creatures that inhabit the pools of the world's mythology, folk tales, epics, and ballads. […] Thus archetypes are universal essences that we all recognize: the Mother, the Lover, the Trickster, the Spiritual and Temporal Leader, the Devil.

Synonyms for archetype

Antonyms for archetype

Related Words

Word Forms

• archetypes
• archetyping
• archetyped

Usage Notes

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