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Webster 1913 Edition


Archetype

Ar′che-type

(är′kē̍-tīp)
,
Noun.
[L.
archetypum
, Gr.
ἀρχέτυπον
, fr.
ἀρχέτυποσ
stamped first and as model;
ἀρχε
=
ἀρχι
+
τύποσ
stamp, figure, pattern,
τύπτειν
to strike: cf. F.
archétype
. See
Arch-
,
pref
.]
1.
The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed.
The House of Commons, the
archetype
of all the representative assemblies which now meet.
Macaulay.
Types and shadows of that glorious
archetype
that was to come into the world.
South.
2.
(Coinage)
The standard weight or coin by which others are adjusted.
3.
(Biol.)
The plan or fundamental structure on which a natural group of animals or plants or their systems of organs are assumed to have been constructed;
as, the vertebrate
archetype
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Archetype

'ARCHETYPE

,
Noun.
[Gr. beginning, and form.]
1.
The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made; as, a tree is the archetype or pattern of our idea of that tree.
2.
Among minters, the standard weight, by which others are adjusted.
3.
Among Platonists, the archetypal world is the world as it existed in the idea of God, before the creation.

Definition 2024


archetype

archetype

See also: archétype

English

Noun

archetype (plural archetypes)

  1. An original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated; a prototype
  2. (literature) A character, story, or object that is based on a known character, story, or object.
  3. An ideal example of something; a quintessence.
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
      “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.
  4. (psychology) According to the 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.

Usage notes

Traditionally archetype refers to the model upon which something is based, but it has also come to mean an example of a personality archetype, particularly a fictional character in a story based on a well-established personality model. In this fashion, a character based on the Jesus archetype might be referred to as a "Jesus archetype". See eponym for a similar usage conflict.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:model

Translations

Verb

archetype (third-person singular simple present archetypes, present participle archetyping, simple past and past participle archetyped)

  1. To depict as, model using or otherwise associate a subject or object with an archetype.
    • 2003 October 31, Clyde Haberman, “NYC; Not Poifect, Dem Movies Of Brooklyn”, in New York Times:
      His collaborator was Robert Singer, a professor of English and film studies at Kingsborough Community College, who lamented this week that he and his fellow Brooklynites "have been archetyped to death."

Latin

Adjective

archetype

  1. vocative masculine singular of archetypus