archetypes

noun

plural of archetype
1
as in forerunners
something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed the abacus is sometimes cited as the archetype of the modern digital calculator

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in originals
something from which copies are made Beowulf is considered by some scholars to be the archetype for medieval British heroic tales

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of archetypes For her Odyssey press tour, Zendaya called upon Schiaparelli couture to channel the archetypes of Greek mythology at the London premiere of the show. — Shelby Comroe, InStyle, 25 July 2026 However, for this, our sixth annual edition, there was still no shortage of Van Wilder seventh-year archetypes. — Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 24 July 2026 The fall 2026 collection is supported with a new campaign that reflects this and unfolds through a series of intimate, voyeuristic vignettes that bring the archetypes to life. — Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 23 July 2026 These archetypes, once commonplace, are an endangered species, a style of ballplayer that belongs to the past. — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 5 July 2026 The sessions went so well that Morali asked Willis to front the group, which adopted campy archetypes of masculinity — cop, cowboy and construction worker among them — in their stage costumes. — Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026 Most of the comedy lies in drawing out the characters’ ridiculous attempts to fit into crime movie archetypes — but more than once, this only draws attention to the film’s own failure to meet the standards of its genre. — Elena Lazic, Variety, 26 June 2026 That also was the case with weapons, where only half or so of weapon archetypes were dedicated anti-champion picks. — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026 In astrology, all 12 archetypes have a unique expression, element and modality. — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 24 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for archetypes
  1. forerunners
  2. originals
  3. ancestors
  4. prototypes
  5. precursors
  6. sources
  7. examples
Noun
  • Margaret and Alice are the forerunners of Lucy and Ethel, and Shakespeare’s comedy, written expressly to entertain, gives us a sense of what an Elizabethan-era situation comedy might look like.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
  • One of the forerunners today in Madeira and the Azores is António Maçanita from Azores Wine Company.
    — Forbes.com, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
Definition of forerunners
Noun
  • Like most meat-grinder, non-auteur streaming originals, The Dink — named for an often-decisive drop shot — has the bland sheen of an insurance commercial.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2026
  • The band’s newest collection, Foreign Tongues, mixes rock and blues, originals and covers – the same styles and approaches the Rolling Stones have been melding for decades.
    — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Definition of originals
Noun
  • Travelers who’d rather be outside should drive south on Snake River Road to Buffalo Eddy, where hundreds of petroglyphs etched into the basalt by Nez Perce ancestors thousands of years ago remain visible from the riverbank.
    — Lauren Mowery, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
  • In Tenet, warriors from the future punish the present because their world is ravaged by climate change caused by us, their ancestors.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 29 July 2026
Definition of ancestors
Noun
  • Developing multiple prototypes allows engineers to test different design changes, validate performance, and identify technical issues before the aircraft enters production.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The landing was so gentle, in fact, that Ship 40 appeared to remain airtight and floated in the ocean rather than sinking to the bottom as prior prototypes have.
    — Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of prototypes
Noun
  • Laboratory demonstrations have already shown production pathways for lubricant precursors, munition components, active pharmaceutical ingredients, bioplastics, and single-cell proteins.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 24 July 2026
  • In this study, published last month in Science, researchers found that as mice got close to the end of their pregnancies, placental levels of NAD+ and its precursors dropped off fast.
    — Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 20 July 2026
Definition of precursors
Noun
  • El Niño and La Niña are the biggest sources of seasonal climate predictability.
    — Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026
  • The current outbreak has previously been linked to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, but officials haven’t ruled out additional sources of the infection.
    — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of sources
Noun
  • They were first popularized in Georgian England as small tokens of affection, infatuation or mourning, and examples are scattered across major museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
    — Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The best treatment is prevention, and vaccination remains one of the clearest examples of that principle in action.
    — Omer Awan, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of examples

Browse Nearby Words

archetype
archetypes
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Cite this Entry

“Archetypes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/archetypes. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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