paragon
pronunciation
How to pronounce paragon in British English:
UK [ˈpærəgən]
How to pronounce paragon in American English:
US [ˈpærəgɑn]
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- Noun:
- an ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept
- model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal
Word Origin
- paragon
- paragon: [16] When we say someone is a ‘paragon of virtue’ – a perfect example of virtue, able to stand comparison with any other – we are unconsciously using the long-dead metaphor of ‘sharpening’ them against others. The word comes via archaic French paragon and Italian paragone from medieval Greek parakónē ‘sharpening stone, whetstone’. Thīs was a derivative of parakonan, a compound verb formed from pará ‘alongside’ and akonan ‘sharpen’ (a descendant of the same base, *ak- ‘be pointed’, as produced English acid, acute, etc), which as well as meaning literally ‘sharpen against’ was also used figuratively for ‘compare’.=> acid, acute, eager, oxygen
- paragon (n.)
- 1540s, from Middle French paragon "a model, pattern of excellence" (15c., Modern French parangon), from Italian paragone, originally "touchstone to test gold" (early 14c.), from paragonare "to test on a touchstone, compare," from Greek parakonan "to sharpen, whet," from para- "on the side" (see para- (1)) + akone "whetstone," from PIE root *ak- "sharp, pointed" (see acrid).
Example
- 1. Current young adults have grown up hearing about mark zuckerberg ( facebook ) as the paragon of success .
- 2. Nor can tata be hailed as a financial paragon .
- 3. Yet what have we heard about this paragon since her husband won the election ?
- 4. This is not new territory for sarft , which is hardly a paragon of visionary thinking .
- 5. We haven 't tested it thoroughly , but paragon promises an impressive feature set , and-for today at least-you can 't really beat the price .