epigram
noun
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Ancient Greeks and Romans used the word epigramma (from Greek epigraphein, meaning "to write on") to refer to a concise, witty, and often satirical verse. The Roman poet Martial (who published eleven books of these epigrammata, or epigrams, between the years 86 and 98 C.E.) was a master of the form: "You puff the poets of other days, / the living you deplore. / Spare me the accolade: your praise / Is not worth dying for." English speakers adopted the "verse" sense of the word when we first used epigram for a concise poem dealing pointedly and often satirically with a single thought or event in the 15th century. In the late 18th century, we began using epigram for concise, witty sayings, even if they didn't rhyme.
Examples of epigram in a Sentence
Jann E. Freed, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
Her poems of that era — sonnets, epigrams, eminently quotable snippets of rhymed gossip — pulse with the dynamism and attitude of the modern city.
—A.o. Scott, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
Throughout, Snook hams for laughs, turning Wilde’s witticisms and epigrams into slapstick.
—Christian Lewis, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
On his plane plastered with Trumpian epigrams, Vance makes the case for Trump’s second-term vision of enhanced executive power.
—Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 26 Sep. 2024
No one could tell the clock by him; no one could quote an epigram of his; no one could ever remember his being a friend of their daddy—or even their granddaddy.
—E. L. Doctorow, The New Yorker, 1 July 2024
Chevalier wrote that the idea for the reports had come from Oppenheimer, who helped to write them and even chose literary references for the epigrams.
—TIME, 8 Mar. 2024
One of the book's epigrams is from Amy Richlin of the University of California, Los Angeles, talking about her experience in the 1970s.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2023
An epigram for one of his chapters in The Real Anthony Fauci, a quote from C. S. Lewis, offers a hint: Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.
—Matthew Scully, National Review, 16 May 2023
Cite this Entry
“Epigram.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epigram. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
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epigram
noun
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