ˈäkəˌtīp, ˈȧk- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin archetypum, from Greek archetypon, from neuter of archetypos molded first as a model, exemplary, from arche- + typos impression of a seal, mold, replica — more at type
1. : the original model, form, or pattern from which something is made or from which something develops
in … oral ballads, variation has gone so far that it is impossible to reconstruct the exact words of the archetype — M.J.C.Hodgart
the House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet — T.B.Macaulay
2.
a. in Platonism : one of the ideas of which existent things are imitations — compare idea 1
b. in scholastic philosophy : the idea in the divine intellect that determines the form of a created thing
c. in Locke : one of the external realities with which our ideas and impressions to some extent correspond
3.
a. : a primitive generalized plan of structure deduced from the characters of the members of a natural group of animals or plants and assumed to be the type from which they have been modified
b. : the original ancestor of a group of animals or plants
4. : a manuscript usually no longer extant from which others were copied
5. in the psychology of C.G.Jung : an inherited idea or mode of thought derived from the experiences of the race and present in the unconscious of the individual
6.
a. : a perfectly typical example : a perfect example of a particular type
the archetype of his profession — stocky, thick-chested, bull-necked — New Yorker
: the most extreme example
the archetype of the stuffy aesthetic reactionary — New York Herald Tribune
b. : an abstract or ideal conception of a type
the various … ideals or archetypes; the gentleman, the scholar … the go-getter … the captain of industry — Walter Moberly