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example. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
example, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
example in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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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
Noun
example (plural examples)
- Something that is representative of all such things in a group.
2005 May 23, Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 182:If Demandt's essay served as a strident example of the German desire for normalcy, a more subtle example was provided by a brief allohistorical depiction of a Nazi victory in World War II written by German historian Michael Salewski in 1999.
2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
- Something that serves to illustrate or explain a rule.
2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.
- Something that serves as a pattern of behaviour to be imitated (a good example) or not to be imitated (a bad example).
Nelson Mandela was an example for many to follow.
1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 52, lines 823–824:I gave, thou ſay'ſt, th' example, / I led the way;
1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. , volume I, London: for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC, page 86:Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, […]
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, pages 58–59:The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. […] Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.
- A person punished as a warning to others.
c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 298, column 1:[…] hang him, hee'le be made an example.
- A parallel or closely similar case, especially when serving as a precedent or model.
c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 12, column 1:Such temperate order in ſo fierce a cauſe, / Doth want example: […]
- 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
Derived terms
Translations
something representative of a group
- Afrikaans: voorbeeld (af)
- Albanian: shembull (sq) m
- Amharic: ምሳሌ (məsale)
- Arabic: مِثَال m (miṯāl), مَثَل (ar) m (maṯal), أُمْثُولَة (ar) f (ʔumṯūla),
- Hijazi Arabic: مِثَال m (miṯāl), مَثَل m (maṯal)
- Armenian: օրինակ (hy) (ōrinak)
- Asturian: exemplu (ast) m
- Avar: мисал (misal)
- Azerbaijani: misal, nümunə (az)
- Baluchi: مثال (misál), نمونہ (namuna)
- Bashkir: миҫал (miśal)
- Basque: adibide
- Belarusian: пры́клад m (prýklad)
- Bengali: নমুনা (bn) (nomuna)
- Bulgarian: при́мер (bg) m (prímer)
- Burmese: နမူနာ (my) (na.muna), ပြယုဂ် (my) (pra.yug)
- Catalan: exemple (ca) m
- Central Dusun: poomitanan
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 例子 (lai6 zi2)
- Mandarin: 例子 (zh) (lìzi), 例 (zh) (lì), 榜樣/榜样 (zh) (bǎngyàng)
- Crimean Tatar: misal
- Czech: příklad (cs) m
- Danish: eksempel (da) n
- Dutch: voorbeeld (nl) n
- Erzya: невтевкс (ńevťevks), невтема (ńevťema), невтематешкс (ńevťemaťešks)
- Esperanto: ekzemplo (eo)
- Estonian: näide
- Finnish: esimerkki (fi)
- French: exemple (fr) m
- Galician: exemplo (gl) m
- Georgian: მაგალითი (magaliti)
- German: Beispiel (de) n, Exempel (de) n
- Greek: παράδειγμα (el) n (parádeigma)
- Ancient: παράδειγμα n (parádeigma)
- Guaraní: tembiecharã
- Hebrew: דֻּגְמָה (he) m (dugma)
- Hindi: नमूना (hi) m (namūnā), मिसाल (hi) m (misāl), उदाहरण (hi) m (udāhraṇ), निदर्शन (hi) m (nidarśan)
- Hungarian: példa (hu), példány (hu)
- Icelandic: dæmi (is) n
- Indonesian: misal (id), contoh (id)
- Interlingua: exemplo
- Irish: sampla m
- Italian: esempio (it) m
- Japanese: 例 (ja) (れい, rei), 例え (ja) (たとえ, tatoe), 例題 (ja) (れいだい, reidai) (of questions)
- Kamba: mfano
- Kazakh: мысал (mysal)
- Khmer: ឧទាហរណ៍ (km) (ʼutiəhɑɑ), តួយ៉ាង (tuəyaang)
- Korean: 보기 (ko) (bogi), 예(例) (ko) (ye), 례(例) (ko) (rye) (North Korea), 예시(例示) (ko) (yesi), 례시(例示) (ryesi) (North Korea)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نمونە (nmune)
- Northern Kurdish: nimûne (ku), mînak (ku), mîsal (ku)
- Kyrgyz: мисал (ky) (misal)
- Lao: ຕົວຢ່າງ (tūa yāng)
- Latin: exemplum n, specimen n
- Latvian: piemērs m, paraugs m
- Lithuanian: pavyzdys (lt) m
- Luhya: kumufano
- Macedonian: пример m (primer)
- Malay: contoh (ms), misal (ms), uswah (ms), teladan
- Malayalam: ഉദാഹരണം (ml) (udāharaṇaṁ)
- Minangkabau: contoh
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: жишээ (mn) (žišee)
- Northern Sami: ovdamearka
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: eksempel (no) n
- Nynorsk: eksempel n, døme n
- Old English: bȳsn f
- Old Norse: dǿmi
- Oromo: fakkeenya
- Pashto: مثال (ps) m (mesāl), نمونه (ps) f (namuna)
- Persian:
- Classical Persian: مِثَال (fa) (misāl), نَمُونَه (fa) (namūna), نِمُونَه (fa) (nimūna), نُمُونَه (fa) (numūna)
- Iranian Persian: مِثال (fa) (mesâl), نِمونِه (fa) (nemune)
- Plautdietsch: Väabilt n
- Polish: przykład (pl) m inan
- Portuguese: exemplo (pt) m
- Punjabi: ਉਦਾਹਰਨ (udāhran), ਮਿਸਾਲ f (misāl)
- Romanian: exemplu (ro) n, pildă (ro) f
- Russian: приме́р (ru) m (primér)
- Sanskrit: उदाहरण (sa) n (udāharaṇa)
- Scots: ensaumple
- Scottish Gaelic: eisimpleir
- Semai: cuntoh
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: при́мер m, при́мјер m
- Roman: prímer (sh) m, prímjer (sh) m
- Silesian: bajszpil m
- Slovak: príklad (sk) m
- Slovene: primer (sl) m, primerek m
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: pśikład m
- Spanish: (please verify) ejemplar (es) m, ejemplo (es) m
- Sranan Tongo: eksempre
- Swahili: mifano (sw), mfano (sw)
- Swedish: exempel (sv) n
- Tagalog: halimbawa (tl)
- Tajik: мисол (misol), намуна (tg) (namuna)
- Tamil: எடுத்துக்காட்டு (ta) (eṭuttukkāṭṭu)
- Tatar: мисал (tt) (misal)
- Thai: ตัวอย่าง (th) (dtuua-yàang)
- Tigrinya: ኣብነት (ʾabnät)
- Turkish: örnek (tr)
- Ukrainian: при́клад m (prýklad)
- Urdu: مِثال m (misāl), نَمُونَہ m (namūna)
- Uyghur: مىسلا (misla)
- Uzbek: misol (uz), namuna (uz), masala (uz)
- Vietnamese: ví dụ (vi)
- Welsh: enghraifft (cy)
- Yiddish: בײַשפּיל m (bayshpil)
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something serving to explain or illustrate a rule
- Arabic: مِثَال m (miṯāl)
- Hijazi Arabic: مِثَال m (miṯāl)
- Armenian: օրինակ (hy) (ōrinak)
- Asturian: exemplu (ast) m
- Bashkir: миҫал (miśal)
- Basque: adibide
- Belarusian: пры́клад m (prýklad)
- Bulgarian: при́мер (bg) m (prímer)
- Catalan: exemple (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 例 (zh) (lì), 例子 (zh) (lìzi)
- Czech: příklad (cs) m
- Dutch: voorbeeld (nl) n
- Esperanto: ekzemplo (eo)
- Finnish: esimerkki (fi)
- French: exemple (fr) m
- Galician: exemplo (gl) m
- German: Beispiel (de) n
- Greek: παράδειγμα (el) n (parádeigma)
- Ancient: παράδειγμα n (parádeigma)
- Greenlandic: assersuut
- Guaraní: tembiecharã
- Hindi: उदाहरण (hi) m (udāhraṇ), नमूना (hi) m (namūnā), मिसाल (hi) m (misāl)
- Hungarian: példa (hu)
- Ido: exemplo (io)
- Indonesian: misal (id)
- Interlingua: exemplo
- Irish: sampla m
- Japanese: 例 (ja) (れい, rei)
- Kalmyk: үлгүр (ülgür)
- Kazakh: мысал (mysal)
- Korean: 예(例) (ko) (ye), 례(例) (ko) (rye) (North Korea)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نمونە (nmune)
- Kyrgyz: мисал (ky) (misal)
- Latin: exemplar (la) n, exemplum n
- Latvian: piemērs m
- Macedonian: пример m (primer)
- Malay: contoh (ms), misal (ms)
- Malayalam: ഉദാഹരണം (ml) (udāharaṇaṁ)
- Northern Sami: ovdamearka
- Occitan: exemple (oc) m
- Old English: bȳsn f
- Old Norse: dǿmi
- Persian:
- Iranian Persian: مِثال (fa) (mesâl)
- Polish: przykład (pl) m inan
- Portuguese: exemplo (pt) m
- Romanian: exemplu (ro) n
- Russian: приме́р (ru) m (primér)
- Scots: ensaumple
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: при́мер m, при́мјер m
- Roman: prímer (sh) m, prímjer (sh) m
- Slovak: príklad (sk) m
- Slovene: primer (sl) m
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: pśikład m
- Spanish: ejemplo (es) m
- Swahili: mifano (sw)
- Swedish: exempel (sv) n, illustrativt exempel n
- Tajik: мисол (misol)
- Tamil: எடுத்துக்காட்டு (ta) (eṭuttukkāṭṭu), உதாரணம் (ta) (utāraṇam)
- Tatar: мисал (tt) (misal)
- Telugu: ఉదాహరణము (te) (udāharaṇamu)
- Turkish: örnek (tr)
- Ukrainian: при́клад m (prýklad)
- Uzbek: misol (uz)
- Yiddish: בײַשפּיל m (bayshpil)
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something serving as a pattern of behaviour
- Armenian: օրինակ (hy) (ōrinak)
- Bashkir: миҫал (miśal), өлгө (ölgö)
- Basque: adibide, eredu
- Belarusian: пры́клад m (prýklad), узо́р m (uzór), ўзор m (ŭzor)
- Bulgarian: моде́л (bg) m (modél), образе́ц (bg) m (obrazéc)
- Catalan: exemple (ca)
- Czech: příklad (cs) m
- Dutch: voorbeeld (nl)
- Esperanto: ekzemplo (eo)
- Finnish: esimerkki (fi), esikuva (fi)
- French: exemple (fr) m
- Galician: exemplo (gl) m
- German: Vorbild (de) n, Beispiel (de) n
- Haitian Creole: egzanp
- Hungarian: példa (hu)
- Irish: sampla m, eiseamláir f
- Italian: esempio (it)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نمونە (nmune)
- Kyrgyz: үлгү (ky) (ülgü)
- Latin: exemplum n
- Latvian: paraugs m
- Macedonian: пример m (primer)
- Malay: contoh (ms), misal (ms)
- Malayalam: ഉദാഹരണം (ml) (udāharaṇaṁ)
- Northern Sami: ovdagovva
- Old English: bȳsn f
- Polish: przykład (pl) m inan
- Portuguese: exemplo (pt) m
- Romanian: exemplu (ro) n
- Russian: приме́р (ru) m (primér), образе́ц (ru) m (obrazéc)
- Scots: ensaumple
- Slovene: zgled m
- Spanish: ejemplo (es) m
- Swahili: mifano (sw)
- Swedish: exempel (sv) n, föredöme (sv)
- Turkish: örnek (tr)
- Ukrainian: при́клад m (prýklad), взір m (vzir)
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person punished as a warning to others
parallel or closely similar case
instance as a problem to be solved
Translations to be checked
See also
Verb
example (third-person singular simple present examples, present participle exampling, simple past and past participle exampled)
- 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.
- “example”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →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