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 sense 4c
3
psychology
: an inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the unconscious of the individual
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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Time Traveler for archetype
The first known use of archetype was in 1545
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