proverbial
/pɹəˈvɜɹb.iː.əl/
proverbial adjective: of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.
Adjective
proverbial (comparative more proverbial, superlative most proverbial)
- Of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.
- The busyness of a beaver is proverbial.
- The beaver in this instance upheld the reputation of the proverbial one: her output was prodigious.
- Optionally placed before an element of a well-known proverb or metaphor to emphasize that the element is not being used in a literal sense (see Usage notes below)
- the proverbial smoking gun
- the proverbial spilled milk
- Widely known; famous; stereotypical.
- I grew up in a prefab house on Main Street in 1950s suburbia, the second and last child of a proverbial nuclear family.
- Mr. Obama has presented himself as a fresh face, unsteeped in Washington and the proverbial “politics as usual.”2007 May 17, Mark Leibovich, “For ’08 Résumés, Don’t Ask Them to Fill in Blanks”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2021
Noun
proverbial (plural proverbials)
- Used to replace a word that might be considered unacceptable in a particular situation, when using a well-known phrase.
- I think we should be prepared in case the proverbial hits the fan.
- Are you taking the proverbial?
- The groin or the testicles.
- You'll find they've got you by the proverbials.
proverbial meaning in Malayalam and Kannada
proverbial in Malayalam
- പഴഞ്ചൊല്ലായ, എല്ലാവരും അറിയുന്ന, ലോകപ്രസിദ്ധമായ
proverbial in Kannada
- ಹೆಸರಾಂತ, ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಹೆಸರಿನ, ದೋವಿಲಿನ
Examples of proverbial in a sentence
- The visit was a warning shot across our proverbial bow
- Doris: You're making me feel like the proverbial stepmother.1947, Miracle on 34th Street (transcript)
- “We don’t like it, it’s the proverbial ‘crap sandwich’ that they talk about but what’s the best move from here and we think it’s the way to go,” said Rep.2018 January 17, Deidre Walsh, quoting Mark Walker, “Republican Study Committee Chairman supports ‘crap sandwich’ funding bill”, in CNN...
Forms of proverbial
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more proverbial |
| superlative | most proverbial |
| Noun | |
| plural | proverbials |
Origin of proverbial
From Latin prōverbiālis, equivalent to proverb + -ial
Words formed from proverbial
Questions about proverbial
- What does proverbial mean?
- Proverbial means of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.
- What is proverbial in Malayalam?
- Proverbial in Malayalam is പഴഞ്ചൊല്ലായ, എല്ലാവരും അറിയുന്ന, ലോകപ്രസിദ്ധമായ. See Proverbial meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use proverbial in a sentence?
- The visit was a warning shot across our proverbial bow
- What part of speech is proverbial?
- Proverbial can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce proverbial?
- Proverbial is pronounced /pɹəˈvɜɹb.iː.əl/ (UK).
Words near proverbial in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: proverbial (page history and authors); proverbial (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); proverbial (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-proverbial.wav.
Cite this entry: “proverbial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/proverbial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.