Dictionary

exordium en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɛɡˈzɔːdɪəm/ (UK)
• /ɛɡˈzɔɹdɪəm/ (General-American)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exordium (“beginning, commencement”), from exōrdior (“to begin, commence”), from ex (“out of, from”) + ōrdior (“to begin”).

Meanings

1. (formal) A beginning.
2. The introduction to an essay or discourse.
   • This is a feeble article of faith to begin with, but it helps to push my pen through this exordium and what now follows. 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:
   • Cicero thinks, in discourses of philosophy, the exordium to be the hardest part: if it be so, I wisely lay hold on the conclusion. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
   • The depreciation of her produce was next insisted upon; and I found this exordium led to the information that Messrs. Standish and Co. had been enabled, from the depressed state of the market, to lay in a large stock of Irish linen at unheard-of low prices. 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 180–181:

Forms

Relateds

exord · primordial · primordium

Translations (41)

bg въведение (introduction to an essay or discourse) · fi alkusanat (introduction to an essay or discourse) · ru нача́ло (beginning) · sa प्रस्ताव (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi आमुख (beginning) · sa भूमिका (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi मुखबंध (beginning) · bg увод (introduction to an essay or discourse) · sa मुखबन्ध (introduction to an essay or discourse) · sa भूमिका (beginning) · sa वाडमुख (beginning) · sa प्रस्ताव (beginning) · ru введе́ние (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi वाडमुख (introduction to an essay or discourse) · es exordio (beginning) · sa आमुख (introduction to an essay or discourse) · fi johdanto (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi प्रस्ताव (introduction to an essay or discourse) · sa वाडमुख (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi मुखबंध (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi मुक़दमा (introduction to an essay or discourse) · pt exórdio (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi मुखबन्ध (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi वाडमुख (beginning) · es exordio (introduction to an essay or discourse) · pt exórdio (beginning) · hi मुक़दमा (beginning) · bg начало (beginning) · sa आमुख (beginning) · ru вступле́ние (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi उपोदघात (beginning) · sa उपोदघात (beginning) · hi आमुख (introduction to an essay or discourse) · ca exordi (introduction to an essay or discourse) · sa उपोदघात (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi मुखबन्ध (beginning) · sa मुखबन्ध (beginning) · hi भूमिका (beginning) · hi प्रस्ताव (beginning) · hi भूमिका (introduction to an essay or discourse) · hi उपोदघात (introduction to an essay or discourse)