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Definition of paragon
: a model of excellence or perfection was a paragon of goodness a paragon of a wife
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paragon was our Word of the Day on 11/30/2015. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of paragon in a Sentence
in Arthurian legend, Sir Galahad is depicted as the one knight who is a paragon of virtue
Recent Examples of paragon from the Web
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Canada could easily lose its current status as a paragon of liberalism and upholder of international order.
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Protected by Pope John Paul II, coddled by Benedict XVI, he was also defended by an array of theological arch-conservatives as a paragon of virtue.
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Lemml (the fervent Richard Topol) finds himself at the play’s first reading, falls in love with theater, and – with a courageous script depicting Jews as complex, flawed people, not as paragons of virtue.
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In some abstract way, (the 1985 Bears) are still the paragons of football virtue in this town.
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Nevertheless, the general drift of the Center for Opportunity Urbanism, a small, new, and right-leaning think tank based in Houston, is that the organization's 660-square-mile home city is a 21st century paragon to be emulated.
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Former Director Mueller has been hailed as the paragon of a public servant by folks of all political stripes.
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Google, whose search box is a paragon of simplicity, famously retreated from an attempt to tie all of its services together with the unwieldy Google Plus social network.
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In the past six months, U.S. customers bought about three times as many Cadillac Escalades and double the number of Corvettes—both paragons of a niche vehicle.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'paragon'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
paragon Has Old Italian and Greek Roots
Paragon derives from the Old Italian word paragone, which literally means "touchstone." A touchstone is a black stone that was formerly used to judge the purity of gold or silver. The metal was rubbed on the stone and the color of the streak it left indicated its quality. In modern English, both touchstone and paragon have come to signify a standard against which something should be judged. Ultimately, paragon comes from the Greek parakonan, meaning "to sharpen," from the prefix para- ("alongside of") and akonē, meaning "whetstone."
Origin and Etymology of paragon
Middle French, from Old Italian paragone, literally, touchstone, from paragonare to test on a touchstone, from Greek parakonan to sharpen, from para- + akonē whetstone, from akē point; akin to Greek akmē point — more at edge
Origin and Etymology of paragon
see 1paragon
PARAGON Defined for English Language Learners
paragon
playDefinition of paragon for English Language Learners
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: a person or thing that is perfect or excellent in some way and should be considered a model or example to be copied
Learn More about paragon
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See words that rhyme with paragon Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for paragon Spanish Central: Translation of paragon Nglish: Translation of paragon for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of paragon for Arabic speakers
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