ENGLISH
REFERENCE

incarnate

v.
C1 Advanced US //ˌɪnˈkɑɹˌneɪt// UK //ɪnkˈɑːneɪt// in·car·nate Archaic

v. to be a perfect example of a quality or feeling. You use this when someone shows a specific trait in a very strong way.

v. to be a perfect or typical embodiment of a quality, feeling, or idea. Often used in the passive voice to describe a person who represents a specific trait.


SIMPLE

The new manager is the very incarnation of patience.

CONTEXTUAL

The young athlete was the incarnation of speed and grace on the track.

COMPLEX

In many ways, the protagonist serves as the incarnation of the author's own philosophical struggles, embodying the tension between duty and personal freedom.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology 1

First attested in 1395, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English incarnat(e) (“(of God or Christ) embodied in human form or flesh, incarnate; provided with new tissues, healed; (with devel, in curses) bloody”), borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin incarnātus, perfect passive participle of incarnor (“to be made flesh, become incarnate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- + Latin carō (“flesh”, carn- in its oblique stem) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Etymology 2

First attested in 1533; borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin incarnātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Etymology 3

From in- + carnate.

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