embody
Americanverb (used with object)
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to give a concrete form to; express, personify, or exemplify in concrete form.
to embody an idea in an allegorical painting.
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to provide with a body incarnate; make corporeal.
to embody a spirit.
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to collect into or include in a body; organize; incorporate.
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to embrace or comprise.
verb
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to give a tangible, bodily, or concrete form to (an abstract concept)
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to be an example of or express (an idea, principle, etc), esp in action
his gentleness embodies a Christian ideal
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(often foll by in) to collect or unite in a comprehensive whole, system, etc; comprise; include
all the different essays were embodied in one long article
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to invest (a spiritual entity) with a body or with bodily form; render incarnate
Other Word Forms
- embodier noun
- embodiment noun
- preembody verb (used with object)
- reembody verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of embody
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Their work was always about more than crops. It was about empowerment and survival. Bloom Ranch embodies that legacy, honoring and applying practices like Carver’s crop rotation and soil health techniques.”
From Los Angeles Times
The art that he created there embodies a kind of deconstructed narcissism; Samaras is fascinated with himself, but mostly as—to paraphrase the photographer Garry Winogrand’s choice of subjects—“something to be photographed.”
Few institutions embody France’s cultural inheritance as fully as the Louvre, whose galleries trace the arc of civilizations while reflecting the French state’s centuries-old role as custodian of artistic treasure.
“The Year Room” is a collection of Ash Roberts’ delicate landscape paintings, which reveal a poetic understanding of the natural world and a soft yet embodied color palette.
From Los Angeles Times
"I was never quite interested in being the star of my own show – but as I grew as an artist, I had to embody that," she explains.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
