epigram

3 definitions found

epigram - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Epigram \Ep"i*gram\, n. [L. epigramma, fr. Gr. ? inscription,
     epigram, fr. ? to write upon, 'epi` upon + ? to write: cf. F.
     ['e]pigramme. See Graphic.]
     1. A short poem treating concisely and pointedly of a single
        thought or event. The modern epigram is so contrived as to
        surprise the reader with a witticism or ingenious turn of
        thought, and is often satirical in character.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram?
                                                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Epigrams were originally inscription on tombs, statues,
           temples, triumphal arches, etc.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An effusion of wit; a bright thought tersely and sharply
        expressed, whether in verse or prose.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The style of the epigram.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Antithesis, i. e., bilateral stroke, is the soul of
              epigram in its later and technical signification.
                                                    --B. Cracroft.
        Epigrammatic

epigram - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  epigram
      n 1: a witty saying [syn: epigram, quip]

epigram - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  148 Moby Thesaurus words for "epigram":
     Atticism, English sonnet, Horatian ode, Italian sonnet,
     Petrarchan sonnet, Pindaric ode, Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet,
     abridgment, adage, alba, ana, anacreontic, analects, aphorism,
     apophthegm, apothegm, axiom, balada, ballad, ballade, bon mot,
     boutade, bright idea, bright thought, brilliant idea, bucolic,
     byword, canso, catchword, chanson, clerihew, collected sayings,
     conceit, crack, current saying, dictate, dictum, dirge, distich,
     dithyramb, double entendre, eclogue, elegy, epic, epithalamium,
     epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, equivoque, expression, facetiae,
     flash of wit, flight of wit, georgic, ghazel, gibe, gnome,
     golden saying, haiku, happy thought, idyll, jeu de mots, jingle,
     limerick, lyric, madrigal, maxim, monody, moral, mot, motto,
     narrative poem, nasty crack, nursery rhyme, ode, oracle, palinode,
     paronomasia, pastoral, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle,
     persiflage, phrase, pithy saying, play of wit, play on words,
     pleasantry, poem, precept, prescript, prothalamium, proverb,
     proverbial saying, proverbs, pun, quip, quips and cranks, repartee,
     retort, rhyme, riposte, rondeau, rondel, roundel, roundelay, sally,
     satire, saw, saying, scintillation, sentence,
     sententious expression, sestina, sloka, smart crack, smart saying,
     snappy comeback, song, sonnet, sonnet sequence, stock saying,
     stroke of wit, sutra, tanka, teaching, tenso, tenzone, text,
     threnody, triolet, troubadour poem, turn of phrase,
     turn of thought, verse, verselet, versicle, villanelle, virelay,
     wisdom, wisdom literature, wise saying, wisecrack, witticism, word,
     words of wisdom