| / English Dictionary |
INSCRIPTION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The activity of inscribing (especially carving or engraving) letters or words
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("inscription" is a kind of...):
committal to writing; writing (the activity of putting something in written form)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inscription"):
superscription (the activity of superscribing)
Derivation:
inscribe (write, engrave, or print as a lasting record)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Letters inscribed (especially words engraved or carved) on something
Synonyms:
inscription; lettering
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("inscription" is a kind of...):
piece of writing; writing; written material (the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inscription"):
superscription (an inscription written above something else)
epigraph (an engraved inscription)
epitaph (an inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A short message (as in a book or musical work or on a photograph) dedicating it to someone or something
Synonyms:
dedication; inscription
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("inscription" is a kind of...):
message (a communication (usually brief) that is written or spoken or signaled)
Domain category:
photography; picture taking (the act of taking and printing photographs)
music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)
Context examples:
The wall inscriptions and paintings are believed to belong to an era between the reigns of King Amenhotep II and King Thutmose IV, both pharaohs of the 18th dynasty.
(Discovery of Two Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years Announced in Egypt, VOA)
All was quiet with him, save that a long inscription had appeared that morning upon the pedestal of the sundial.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was completely covered with such inscriptions.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
One inscription that he left was in these words: Prepare!
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
The new part, containing the schoolroom and dormitory, was lit by mullioned and latticed windows, which gave it a church-like aspect; a stone tablet over the door bore this inscription:—Lowood Institution.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Then came a picture of a cheerful and corpulent ecclesiastic in a shovel hat, sitting opposite a very thin European, and the inscription: "Lunch with Fra Cristofero at Rosario."
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When I had taken the copy, I rubbed out the marks, but, two mornings later, a fresh inscription had appeared.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
While I was copying the plain inscription for him at his request, I saw him stoop, and gather a tuft of grass from the grave and a little earth.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Holmes and I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged with a powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original inscription upon a palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon surgery.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Number two in the Court was soon reached; and an inscription on the door-post informing me that Mr. Traddles occupied a set of chambers on the top storey, I ascended the staircase.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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