[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

epitome \epit"ome\, n.; pl. epitomes. l., fr. gr. ? a
   surface incision, also, and abridgment, fr. ? to cut into,
   cut short; 'epi` upon + te`mnein to cut: cf. f. 'epitome.
   see tome.
   1. a work in which the contents of a former work are reduced
      within a smaller space by curtailment and condensation; a
      brief summary; an abridgement.
      1913 webster

            an epitome of the contents of a very large book.
                                                  --sydney
                                                  smith.
      1913 webster

   2. a compact or condensed representation of anything;
      something possessing conspicuously or to a high degree the
      qualities of a class.
      1913 webster +pjc

            an epitome of english fashionable life. --carlyle.
      1913 webster

            a man so various that he seemed to be
            not one, but all mankind's epitome.   --dryden.

   syn: abridgement; compendium; compend; abstract; synopsis;
        abbreviature. see abridgment.
        1913 webster
see also:
epitomes tome abridgment 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

epitome
     n 1: a standard or typical example; "he is the prototype of good
          breeding"; "he provided america with an image of the
          good father" syn: prototype, paradigm, image
     2: a brief abstract as of an article or book
see also:
prototype paradigm image 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

84 moby thesaurus words for "epitome":
   abbreviation, abbreviature, abrege, abridgement, abridgment,
   abstract, antetype, antitype, apocope, archetype, biotype,
   breviary, brief, capsule, classic example, compend, compendium,
   compression, condensation, condensed version, conspectus,
   contraction, criterion, curtailment, digest, draft, elision,
   ellipsis, embodiment, essence, exemplar, foreshortening, fugleman,
   fugler, genotype, head, imitatee, last word, lead, mirror, model,
   original, outline, overview, pandect, paradigm, pattern,
   personification, precedent, precis, prototype, quintessence, recap,
   recapitulation, reduction, representative, resume, retrenchment,
   review, rubric, rule, shortened version, shortening, skeleton,
   sketch, standard, sum, summary, summation, summing-up, survey,
   syllabus, syncope, synopsis, telescoping, thumbnail sketch,
   topical outline, truncation, type, type species, type specimen,
   typical example, ultimate, urtext

Epitome >> E Words
Epitome, definition of term: Epitome
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