Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Proverbial |
ProverbialAdjective1. Of or relating to or resembling or expressed in a proverb; "he kicked the proverbial bucket"; "the proverbial grasshopper". 2. Widely known and spoken of; "her proverbial lateness"; "the proverbial absentiminded professor"; "your proverbial dizzy blonde". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "proverbial" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1374. (references) |
Etymology: Proverbial \Pro*ver"bi*al\, adjective. [Latin expression proverbialis: compare to the French expression proverbial.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Knowledge | Known; Verb: ascertained, well-known, recognized, received, notorious, noted; proverbial; familiar, familiar as household words, familiar to every schoolboy; hackneyed, trite, trivial, commonplace. |
Maxim | Adjective: aphoristic, proverbial, phylacteric; axiomatic, gnomic. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Proverbial |
| English words defined with "proverbial": Adagial ♦ Brocard ♦ careless ♦ Damascus blade ♦ poor, Proverbialism ♦ regardless ♦ thoughtless ♦ yokel-like. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "proverbial": Abderitan, Achemon, Ambree ♦ Bibulus ♦ Carthaginem esse Delendam, Come Yorkshire over One, Crillon ♦ Devil to Pay and no Pitch Hot, Diomedean Swop ♦ Flecknoe, Fortune-telling, Fuggers ♦ Galiana, Gyges' Ring ♦ Hadadrimmon, Hadad-rimmon ♦ Marozia, Meissonier-like Exactness, Mercury Fig, Mouse Tower ♦ Patience cry the Lepers, Pirithoos, Prick the Garter, Public-house Signs, Pylades and Orestes ♦ Saliens ♦ Xantippe. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "proverbial": Wishly. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Proverbial" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (proverbial), French (proverbial), Portuguese (proverbial), Romanian (proverbial), Spanish (proverbial). |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer has found the equivalent of the proverbial ... Credit: NASA. |  | Pelican's seeking the proverbial free lunch as they follow a fishing vessel. Credit: America's Coastlines. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Cervantes | There are but few proverbial sayings that are not true, for they are all drawn from experience itself, which is the mother of all sciences. |
Plutarch | That proverbial saying, "Bad news travels fast and far." |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Proverbial" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.84% of the time. "Proverbial" is used about 172 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.84% | 170 | 23,898 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.16% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 172 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
proverbial | 9 |
proverbial saying | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "proverbial"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | proverbial. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | معبر عنه بمثل, مثلي, ضرب به المثل. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | всеизвестен (common truth, notorious, twice-told, well known), пословичен. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | přísloveèný (adverbial). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | on tullut sananparreksi (has become proverbial). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | proverbial. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | sprichwörtlich. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | παροιμιώδησ, παροιμιακόσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | י"וע (certain, familiar, famous, known, well known), פת'מי. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | közmondásos. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | proverbiale. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | shennocklagh, raaoilagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | overbialpray proverbial, notório (arrant, celebrated, common, flagrant, glaring, notorious, open, overt, palpable, public), conhecido (acquaintance, acquainted, conversant, friend, known, met, notorious, pinup, well-known). (various references) proverbial. (various references) вошедший в поговорку. (various references) poslovičan. (various references) proverbial. (various references) ordspråksartad, legendarisk (legendary). (various references) meşhur (celebrated, famed, famous, illustrious, noted, of mark, renowned, reputed, well known), bilinen (common, conversant, familiar, given, known, twice-told), atasözü olmuş, atasözü gibi. (various references) що належить до приказок, загальновідомий (notorious, upon the table). (various references) diễn đạt bằng cách ngôn đã trở th nh tục ngữ, đã trở th nh cách ngôn; ai cũng biết. (various references) diarhebol. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "proverbial": proverbially. (additional references) | |
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"Proverbial" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: praverbial, preverbial, preverbyal, probverbial, provarian, proverbail, proverbiale, proverbials, Proverbios, provervial. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "proverbial" (pronounced pruver"bēul) |
| 6 | -v er" b ē u l | adverbial. |
| 4 | -b ē u l | microbial. |
| 3 | -ē u l | actuarial, adversarial, advertorial, aerial, alluvial, ambassadorial, antibacterial, arboreal, Ariel, arterial, bacterial, biaxial, bicentennial, biennial, binomial, biomaterial, bronchial, burial, centennial, cereal, ceremonial, coaxial, collegial, colloquial, colonial, conspiratorial, convivial, curatorial, custodial, decennial, dictatorial, directorial, editorial, endometrial, entrepreneurial, equatorial, ethereal, extraterrestrial, extraterritorial, filial, fluvial, gubernatorial, immaterial, immemorial, imperial, industrial, intracranial, janitorial, jovial, laryngeal, lineal, magisterial, malarial, managerial, marsupial, material, matrilineal, matrimonial, medial, memorial, menial, mercurial, millennial, ministerial, myocardial, nomenclatorial, parochial, patrilineal, perennial, pictorial, pluvial, polynomial, primordial, professorial, prosecutorial, pseudopodial, quadrennial, radial, raptorial, remedial, reportorial, sartorial, secretarial, senatorial, serial, terrestrial, territorial, testimonial, tracheal, triennial, trivial, tutorial, venereal, vestigial, vitriol. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-i-l-o-p-r-r-v" | |
-2 letters: provable, proviral, reproval. | |
-3 letters: bipolar, bolivar, broiler, laborer, overlap, parboil, peloria, peroral, preboil, prevail, proverb, ropable, vaporer, variole. | |
-4 letters: arrive, bailer, bailor, barrel, barrio, birler, boiler, boreal, braver, irreal, librae, obelia, orbier, palier, parlor, parole, parrel, pavior, plover, prober, prover, railer, rapier, reboil, repair, ropier, varier, verbal, viable. | |
-5 letters: abler, aboil, above, airer, aiver. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-e-i-l-o-p-r-r-v" | |
+2 letters: proverbially. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
