Definition of archetype
1 : the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies : prototype … the House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet … — Thomas Babington Macaulay; also : a perfect example He is the archetype of a successful businessman.
2 : idea 1a
3 psychology : an inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of C. G. Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the unconscious of the individual
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Recent Examples of archetype from the Web
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She's joined by an assortment of archetypes familiar to even the most casual viewers of the genre.
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The novel makes too much use of shopworn archetypes—a seductive housekeeper, a self-sacrificing prostitute—but Altan deftly pushes the tropes of detective fiction into existentialist territory.
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The Mammy archetype gives way to the Angry Black Woman trope, also known as Sapphire—
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This archetype of female celebrity came into being around 2008, when Paltrow started mass-emailing her shopping tips and musings to voluntary subscribers.
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What's interesting about the iconography or the archetypes?
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'archetype'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Archetype derives via Latin from the Greek adjective archetypos ("archetypal"), formed from the verb "archein" ("to begin" or "to rule") and the noun "typos" ("type"). ("Archein" also gave us the prefix arch-, meaning "principal" or "extreme" and used to form such words as "archenemy," "archduke," and "archconservative.") "Archetype" has specific uses in the fields of philosophy and psychology. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, for example, believed that all things have ideal forms (aka archetypes) of which real things are merely shadows or copies. And in the psychology of C. G. Jung, "archetype" refers to an inherited idea or mode of thought that is present in the unconscious of the individual. In everyday prose, however, "archetype" is most commonly used to mean "a perfect example of something."
Origin and Etymology of archetype
Latin archetypum, from Greek archetypon, from neuter of archetypos archetypal, from archein + typos type
Other Psychology Terms
Medical Dictionary
archetype
playMedical Definition of archetype
1a: a primitive generalized plan of structure deduced from the characters of a natural group of plants or animals and assumed to be the characteristic of the ancestor from which they are all descendedb: the original ancestor of a group of plants or animals
2: an inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of C. G. Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the unconscious of the individual
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See words that rhyme with archetype Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for archetype Spanish Central: Translation of archetype Nglish: Translation of archetype for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of archetype for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about archetype
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