The AI-powered English dictionary
plural bywords
A proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase. examples
A characteristic word or expression; a word or phrase associated with a person or group. examples
Someone or something that stands as an example (i.e. metonymically) for something else, by having some of that something's characteristic traits. quotations examples
Illustrious unfortunates attract a wider sympathy, not because their griefs are more intense, but because, being set on lofty pedestals, they the better serve mankind as instances and bywords of calamity.
1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Christmas Banquet”, in Mosses from an Old Manse
An object of notoriety or contempt, scorn or derision. quotations examples
He hath made me also a byword of the people […]
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Job 17:6
"I know you and Harry are inseparable. Surely for that reason, if for none other, you should not have made his sister's name a by-word."
1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray
A nickname or epithet. examples