Epithet

n. [Gr. ἐπίθετον, from ἐπίθετος, added, from ἐπιτιθέναι, to add; Lat. epitheton, Fr. épithète. See supra.] An adjective expressing some quality, attribute, or relation, that is properly or specially appropriate to a person or thing; as, a verdant lawn; a brilliant appearance; a just man; an accurate description. “Their swelling epithets.” Milton. “Disparaging epithets.” I. Taylor.

Synonyms—EPITHET, TITLE. The name epithet was formerly extended to nouns which give a title or describe character (as liar, &c.), but is now confined wholly to adjectives. Some rhetoricians, as Whately, restrict it still further, considering the term epithet as belonging only to a limited class of adjectives, viz., those which add nothing to the sense of their noun, but simply hold forth some quality necessarily implied therein; as, the bright sun, the lofty heavens, &c. But neither Johnson nor Richardson has imposed this restriction, which certainly does not prevail in general literature. It is sometimes improperly confounded with appellation, which is always a noun or its equivalent.