/ English Dictionary |
EPIC
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
Synonyms:
epic; epic poem; epos; heroic poem
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("epic" is a kind of...):
poem; verse form (a composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "epic"):
chanson de geste (Old French epic poems)
rhapsody ((in ancient Greece) an epic poem adapted for recitation)
heroic; heroic meter; heroic verse (a verse form suited to the treatment of heroic or elevated themes; dactylic hexameter or iambic pentameter)
Instance hyponyms:
Aeneid (an epic in Latin by Virgil; tells the adventures of Aeneas after the Trojan War; provides an illustrious historical background for the Roman Empire)
Divina Commedia; Divine Comedy (a narrative epic poem written by Dante)
Iliad (a Greek epic poem (attributed to Homer) describing the siege of Troy)
Odyssey (a Greek epic poem (attributed to Homer) describing the journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy)
Nibelungenlied (an epic poem written in Middle High German and based on the legends of Siegfried and Teutonic kings)
Derivation:
epic; epical (constituting or having to do with or suggestive of a literary epic)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)
Example:
heroic sculpture
Synonyms:
epic; heroic; larger-than-life
Classified under:
Similar:
big; large (above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Constituting or having to do with or suggestive of a literary epic
Example:
epic tradition
Synonyms:
epic; epical
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
epic (a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds)
Derivation:
epic; epos (a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds)