Epitome \E*pit"o*me\, n.; pl. {Epitomes}. [L., fr. Gr. ? a
   surface incision, also, and abridgment, fr. ? to cut into,
   cut short; 'epi` upon + te`mnein to cut: cf. F. ['e]pitome.
   See {Tome}.]
   1. A work in which the contents of a former work are reduced
      within a smaller space by curtailment and condensation; a
      brief summary; an abridgement.
      
[1913 Webster]


            [An] epitome of the contents of a very large book.
                                                  --Sydney
                                                  Smith.
      
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   2. A compact or condensed representation of anything;
      something possessing conspicuously or to a high degree the
      qualities of a class.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

            An epitome of English fashionable life. --Carlyle.
      
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            A man so various that he seemed to be
            Not one, but all mankind's epitome.   --Dryden.

   Syn: Abridgement; compendium; compend; abstract; synopsis;
        abbreviature. See {Abridgment}.
        
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epitome
     n 1: a standard or typical example; "he is the prototype of good
          breeding"; "he provided America with an image of the
          good father" [syn: {prototype}, {paradigm}, {image}]
     2: a brief abstract (as of an article or book)

84 Moby Thesaurus words for "epitome":
   abbreviation, abbreviature, abrege, abridgement, abridgment,
   abstract, antetype, antitype, apocope, archetype, biotype,
   breviary, brief, capsule, classic example, compend, compendium,
   compression, condensation, condensed version, conspectus,
   contraction, criterion, curtailment, digest, draft, elision,
   ellipsis, embodiment, essence, exemplar, foreshortening, fugleman,
   fugler, genotype, head, imitatee, last word, lead, mirror, model,
   original, outline, overview, pandect, paradigm, pattern,
   personification, precedent, precis, prototype, quintessence, recap,
   recapitulation, reduction, representative, resume, retrenchment,
   review, rubric, rule, shortened version, shortening, skeleton,
   sketch, standard, sum, summary, summation, summing-up, survey,
   syllabus, syncope, synopsis, telescoping, thumbnail sketch,
   topical outline, truncation, type, type species, type specimen,
   typical example, ultimate, urtext