exemplar

Learned borrowing from Latin exemplar, from Latin exemplum (“example”). Doublet of exemplary.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛɡˈzɛm.plə/, /ɪkˈzɛm.plə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɛɡˈzɛm.plɑɹ/, /ɪɡˈzɛm.plɚ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧em‧plar

exemplar (plural exemplars)

2. Something fit to be imitated; an ideal, a worthy model or role model: a desirable example.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:model

   • 2020 August 26, Nigel Harris, “Comment Special: Catastrophe at Carmont”, in Rail, page 4:

     A ray of light amid all this nonsense was Gwyn Topham's piece in the Guardian, which was timely, measured, accurate and of appropriate tone. That this single report stood out so clearly as an exemplar is a scathing comment in itself on the volumes of drivel surrounding it.

4. Something typical or representative; an example that typifies its class.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:exemplar

6. A pattern after which others should be made; an archetype.
8. A well-known use of a scientific theory.
10. A manuscript used by a scribe to make a handwritten copy; the original document to be reproduced in a copy machine.
12. A copy of a book or piece of writing.
    • 1539, Richard Taverner, “Preface”, in Taverner's Bible:

      To amend the same [default] according to the true exemplars.

From French exemplaire, and its source, Latin exemplāris. By surface analysis, example +‎ -ar.

exemplar (comparative more exemplar, superlative most exemplar)

1. (obsolete) Exemplary.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     In our age we have no patterne of motherly affection more exemplare, than yours.

• “exemplar”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• “exemplar”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• exampler

• IPA^(key): (Central) [əɡ.zəmˈplar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əɡ.zəmˈpla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [eɡ.zemˈplaɾ]^[1][2]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Central) -ar, (Balearic) -a, (Valencia) -aɾ
• Hyphenation: ex‧em‧plar

Borrowed from Latin exemplāris.

exemplar m or f (masculine and feminine plural exemplars)

1. exemplary

• exemplarisme

• exemplaritat

Borrowed from Latin exemplar.

exemplar m (plural exemplars)

1. copy; edition

• exemplar d'obsequi

• “exemplar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “exemplar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “exemplar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “exemplar”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
• “exemplar” in ésAdir, El portal lingüístic de la Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals.

Nominalization of apocopated exemplāre, neuter of exemplāris (“exemplary”), or directly from exemplum +‎ -ar.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɛkˈsɛm.pɫar]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [eɡˈzɛm.plar]
• Hyphenation: ex‧em‧plar

exemplar n (genitive exemplāris); third declension

1. model, pattern, example, original or ideal
2. copy

   Synonym: exemplāris

Third-declension noun (neuter, pure i-stem).

• exemplārium

• exemplum

• “exemplar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• exemplar in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 2539
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “exemplar”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• “exemplar”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 622.
• Harm Pinkster, editor (2018), “exemplar”, in Woordenboek Latijn/Nederlands‎^[2], 7th revised edition, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC
• Latino-Sinicum [translated as: 式樣／式样 (shìyàng); 表樣／表样 (biǎoyàng); 稿本 (gǎoběn); 法帖 (fǎtiè); 規模／规模 (guīmó)]
• "EXEMPLAR", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “exemplar”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

• exemplar in Ramminger, Johann (11 May 2026 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[3], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

• exemplari (Provençal)

Borrowed from Latin exemplar.

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

exemplar m (feminine singular exemplara, masculine plural exemplars, feminine plural exemplaras)

1. exemplary

exemplar m (plural exemplars)

1. copy, specimen, example

Borrowed from Latin exemplāris.

• Rhymes: (most of Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro) -aʁ, (São Paulo, Portugal) -aɾ, (Caipira) -aɻ, (Southern Portugal) -aɾi
• Hyphenation: e‧xem‧plar

exemplar m or f (plural exemplares)

1. exemplary

exemplar m (plural exemplares)

1. example, exemplar

• “exemplar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “exemplar” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “exemplar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French exemplaire, from Latin exemplarium.

• IPA^(key): /ek.semˈplar/

• Rhymes: -ar
• Hyphenation: ex‧em‧plar

exemplar n (plural exemplare)

1. copy

• “exemplar”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

• ex (colloquial)

From Late Latin exemplarium, from Latin exemplum.

• Audio:

  (file)

exemplar n

1. a copy, a specimen (one of many identical artifacts)

• exemplarframställning