Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A beginning or introductory part, especially of a speech or treatise.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The beginning of anything; specifically, the introductory part of a discourse, intended to prepare the audience for the main subject; the preface or proemial part of a composition.
- noun Synonyms Proem; Prelude, Preface, etc. See
introduction .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A beginning; an introduction; especially, the introductory part of a discourse or written composition, which prepares the audience for the main subject; the opening part of an oration.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
beginning - noun The
introduction to a paper or discourse.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (rhetoric) the introductory section of an oration or discourse
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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[1795] * Your exordium is the worst part of the translation.
Letter 138 1795
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The exordium is ridiculously turgid: If all the members of my body were changed into tongues, and if all my limbs resounded with
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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Chrysostom, tom.iii. p. 381 — 386, which the exordium is particularly beautiful.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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Anyone who can’t figure out that this exordium is in jest and that the joke turns on the fact that Ann Coulter is not a moderate, is in severe need of remedial reading classes.
About This Site 2009
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But if the preliminary declarations of the article (which would formerly have been called the exordium) are so markedly disinterested, what follows is generally much less so.
Time Regained 2003
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At present, since the exordium ought to be the main thing of all, we too will first of all give some precepts to lead to a system of opening a case properly.
The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 Marcus Tullius Cicero
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We might recall the exordium, to which, in thought and to some extent in language, the great concluding doxology corresponds, while the two sections of the first part deal quite appropriately with the impressive words on the certainty of salvation and on God's exercise of providence and wisdom
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 13: Revelation-Stock 1840-1916 1913
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But now orators call exordium anything with which they begin, and consider it of advantage to make the beginning with some brilliant thought.
The Training of a Public Speaker Grenville Kleiser 1910
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His exordium is a specimen of the very worst possible taste in composition.
A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume One Thomas Frognall Dibdin 1811
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The exordium is a passionate address to Captains all; amongst whom, who can more properly be reckoned than Captain Andrew?
Boswell's Correspondence with the Honourable Andrew Erskine, and His Journal of a Tour to Corsica James Boswell 1767
fbharjo commented on the word exordium
exordium beginning to weave literally: used in the sense of "starting to implement a plan"
January 22, 2007
jmjarmstrong commented on the word exordium
JM loves a good exordium as long as we’ve been introduced properly.
May 9, 2011