Epithet

/ˈɛp.ɪˌθɛt/ · noun

Meaning

A term used to characterize a person or thing..

Definitions by Sense

1. A term used to characterize a person or thing.
2. (mythology) A term used as a qualifier of the name of a deity in order to designate said deity in a particular aspect or role.
3. A term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title of a person.
4. One of many formulaic words or phrases used in the Iliad and Odyssey to characterize a person, a group of people, or a thing.
5. An abusive or contemptuous word or phrase.
6. (taxonomy) A word in the scientific name of a taxon following the name of the genus or species. This applies only to formal names of plants, fungi and bacteria. In formal names of animals the corresponding term is the specific name.
7. (transitive) To term; to refer to as.

Example Sentences

She would lean her head for hours on Beatrice's shoulder, only now and then applying to her some childish and endearing epithet.

Part of this process was the elaboration of new terms for the Jew, especially the increasingly popular epithet “kike”.

Counterprotesters shouted epithets as they walked by, but the opposing groups kept it nonviolent.

Politico reported that epithets appeared more than 251 times.

Her book includes an incisive discussion of misogyny on the New Right. [Laura K.] Field notes how “gynocracy” and “the longhouse” have become overwrought MAGA epithets for an unbearably feminized and pluralist society.

He was epitheted "the king of fools".

Synonyms for epithet

Antonyms for epithet

Related Words

Word Forms

• epithets
• epitheting
• epitheted

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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