epigrammatic

adjective

ep·​i·​gram·​mat·​ic ˌe-pə-grə-ˈma-tik How to pronounce epigrammatic (audio)
1
: of, relating to, or resembling an epigram
2
: marked by or given to the use of epigrams
epigrammatically adverb

Examples of epigrammatic in a Sentence

Oscar Wilde's epigrammatic observation, “In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience”.
Recent Examples on the Web Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (1791) The best and most entertaining biography ever written in English — addictive for its prescient, informal, racy prose and Johnson's epigrammatic precision and enduring decency. The Week Staff, The Week, 20 Mar. 2023 Dylan is helplessly epigrammatic. Dwight Garner, New York Times, 7 Nov. 2022 There’s nothing wrong with epigrammatic rhetoric. Jon Meacham, Town & Country, 30 Oct. 2022 In recent years, the magazine has published several short, often epigrammatic poems by Simic. Hannah Aizenman, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2023 For the next 10 minutes or so, Godard, smoking his familiar cigar, meditates on this vexing, evergreen question with his characteristic intelligence, opacity and epigrammatic wit. A.o. Scott, New York Times, 6 Dec. 2022 With the help of blankly matter-of-fact yet omniscient voice-over narration (spoken by Madeleine James), D’Ambrose achieves the span and the depth of a cinematic bildungsroman in shards of experience and epigrammatic flickers. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 1 Sep. 2022 Munro’s characters are drawn from the upper classes, and his prose is droll in the British way—wry and epigrammatic. The New Yorker, 28 June 2021 The writing, so heightened and epigrammatic, seems almost to mock the homespun fashions of traditional realist prose. Sam Sacks, WSJ, 30 Apr. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'epigrammatic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin epigrammaticus, from Latin epigrammat-, epigramma "inscription, epitaph, epigram" + -icus -ic entry 1

First Known Use

1694, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of epigrammatic was in 1694

Dictionary Entries Near epigrammatic

Cite this Entry

“Epigrammatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epigrammatic. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

epigrammatic

adjective
ep·​i·​gram·​mat·​ic ˌep-ə-grə-ˈmat-ik How to pronounce epigrammatic (audio)
1
: of, relating to, or resembling an epigram
2
: marked by or given to the use of epigrams
epigrammatical
-ˈmat-i-kəl
adjective
epigrammatically adverb
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