epithet
noun/ˈepɪθet/
/ˈepɪθet/
- an adjective or phrase that is used to describe somebody/something’s character or most important quality, especially in order to give praise or criticism
- The film is long and dramatic but does not quite earn the epithet ‘epic’.
- (especially North American English) an offensive word or phrase that is used about a person or group of people
- Racial epithets were scrawled on the walls.
Word Originlate 16th cent.: from French épithète, or via Latin from Greek epitheton, neuter of epithetos ‘attributed’, from epitithenai ‘add’, from epi ‘upon’ + tithenai ‘to place’.
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epithet