representativeadj.n.
/ˌrɛprᵻˈzɛntətɪv/, U.S. /ˌrɛprəˈzɛn(t)ədɪv/ A. adj.
I. That stands in the place or assumes the functions of.
1.
a. That stands in the place of a person or thing; spec. (a) that serves as a sign or substitute for; symbolic; (b) that speaks or acts on behalf of a wider body or group of people.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > [adjective] > conveying to the mind
representativea1475
projectivea1839
visual1868
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 6032 Somme vnderstonde certeynly That he ys ther vertuously; Somme seyn ‘ymaginatiue’, And somme ‘representatiue’.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer ii. f. cccxlviiiv Also in good by partycipacion, and that is ycleped good for farre fette and representatyue of goodly goodnesse.
a1555 J. Bradford Two Notable Serm. (1574) sig. Kviii I haue already impugned..that the bread and wine may not and must not be called sacramentall and externall signes: but that they myght be..taken for signes exhibitiue and representatiue.
1584 J. Rainolds Six Concl. in J. Rainolds & J. Hart Summe of Conf. 699 When they [sc. Catholics] say the Church cannot erre, they meane the Church in that sense in which the Schoole-men call it representatiue, that is, Bishops and Prelates representing the whole church in a generall Councell.
1610 Bible (Douay) II. Ezek. ix. Annot. Which signe..is representatiue, and commemoratiue of our Redemption.
1699 T. Edwards Paraselene dismantled of her Cloud Introd. p. vii The whole of both Covenants..are founded upon their different or distinct, substitutive and representative Person or Headship.
1737 J. Home Script. Hist. Jews II. iii. v. 28 The Twelve Tribes [of Israel], each Tribe being reckoned a Representative House of the twelve Sons of Jacob.
1788 W. Springitt Addr. to Friend 6 Christ is not only a representative head, but also an influential head.
1856 P. E. Dove Logic Christian Faith vi. §4. 356 The disobedience of our representative father entailed..a fallen nature.
1861 R. C. Trench Comm. Epist. 7 Churches Asia 3 A king or queen, as representative persons in a nation.
1909 Hansard's Parl. Deb. 5th Ser. 2 1627 The conciliation scheme arranged in November, 1907, between representative railway companies and the railway workers.
2003 D. Brown Da Vinci Code (2004) vi. 60 This pentacle is representative of the female half of all things—a concept religious historians call the ‘sacred feminine’ or the ‘divine goddess’.
b. Of, relating to, or based on the fact of one person, group, or thing standing in the place of another.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > [adjective] > type of title to possession
concurrent?1530
indirect1598
representative1688
1688 W. Wake 2nd Def. Expos. Doctrine Church of Eng.: 2nd Pt. 189 You cannot say, as you do in the Case of Images, that the Figure and the Proto-type are in a manner united together, and that therefore the Image in its representative Nature is in some sort very Christ.
1743 W. MacBean Constit. Germany iv. i Q. 14. Have Electors a Right to send Ambassadors? A. Yes; whether they send one or more in this representative Character: And they have the above-mention'd Honours.
1759 W. Blackstone Treat. Law of Descents in Fee-simple vi. 43 The issue or descendants..are called to the succession in right of such their representative proximity.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) IV. 710 The mersion of derivative, official and representative Duties, Powers, and Privileges in personal rights is one of the principal ingredients in Jacobinism.
1844 H. J. Stephen New Comm. Laws Eng. III. 58 By inheritance, or other such representative title as in the act specified.
1910 Harvard Law Rev. 23 564 Statute giving personal representative right to sue for death.
1936 M. R. Brailsford tr. H. Pinnow Hist. Germany iii. i. 234 The Bohemians rose, because they believed their representative rights to be threatened, together with their religious freedom.
1968 M. Hardy Mod. Diplomatic Law iv. 92 The proposed draft articles should deal solely with special missions having a representative character, that is to say, with missions which might be regarded as organs of the sending State.
2004 Jewish Chron. 26 Mar. 23/4 Sir Ivan suggested that if there were two bodies empowered with a representative role, ‘sooner or later someone will drive a wedge between them.’
c. Designating a sales representative for a company. Chiefly in representative salesman. Cf. sense B. 3c. Now somewhat rare.
ΚΠ
1879 North Amer. (Philadelphia) 6 June This season they preferred to visit our manufacturers in person, rather than place their orders with representative salesmen.
1915 4th Rep. Factory Investigating Comm. (State of N.Y.) II. ii. i. 116 We may say that the transfer of $30 to $200 worth of goods a week represents the ordinary transactions of a representative saleswoman.
1924 A. L. Filene & B. Kline Merchant's Horizon x. 204 A group of representative salespeople carrying on a meeting with one of their number in the chair.
1952 Times 10 Apr. 2/4 (advt.) A representative salesman of the highest standing is required for the following territories.
1969 Thomas (Okla.) Tribune 5 June They will attend a school of instruction with the Southwestern Co. Inc. before spending the summer as representative salesmen for the company.
2.
a. That consists of people chosen (typically by election) to speak and act on behalf of a wider group.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > delegated authority > action or function of a delegate or deputy > [adjective]
substitute1564
deputate1575
deputary1581
representative1609
surrogatea1638
deputative1646
deputed1651
agential1843
repping1976
society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > government by the people or their delegates > [adjective] > representative
representative1609
presentative1642
1609 Bp. W. Barlow Answer Catholike English-man 145 Being..naturall Subjects to one King, what is concluded [by] the Representatiue Body in Parlament, they (though absent) doe assent vnto it.
1643 King Charles I Conc. Treaty at Oxford in Wks. (1662) II. 330 The two Houses of Parliament being the Representative Body of the Kingdome.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxii. 120 If a Body Politique of Merchants, contract a debt to a stranger by the act of their Representative Assembly, every Member is lyable by himself for the whole.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver II. iv. viii. 130 Every fourth Year at the Vernal Equinox, there is a Representative Council of the whole Nation, which meets in a Plain.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xxxv. 50 A question of right arises between the constituent and the representative body. By what authority shall it be decided?
1795 T. Gisborne Enq. Duties Men in Higher & Middle Classes I. v. 179 The beneficial effects of a Representative House of Commons in this point of view are not to be described.
1819 J. Mackintosh Parl. Suffrage in Wks. (1846) III. 206 The representative assembly must therefore contain some members peculiarly qualified for discussions of the constitution and the laws.
1879 W. E. Gladstone Gleanings Past Years I. viii. 214 We have..found no better method of providing for peace and order in Jamaica..than by the..expedient of abolishing entirely its representative institutions.
1902 G. S. Whitmore Last Maori War p. xxi Four Maories have, under the law of representation, had seats in the representative branch, and two in the nominated branch of the Legislature.
1921 H. Samuel Let. 8 May in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1977) IV. Compan. iii. 1461 The very early establishment of representative institutions.
1956 Life 2 Apr. 66/2 The constitutional significance which was once attached to it as the first representative Parliament in our history is somewhat discounted by modern opinion.
2003 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 May 4/3 The first Russian revolution..forced the Tsar to give some share in the affairs of government to a representative assembly called the Duma.
b. Based on chosen (typically elected) representatives, or on the principle of political representation. Frequently in representative democracy, representative government.
ΚΠ
1774 tr. F. J. de Chastellux Ess. Public Happiness II. i. 69 These assembles rather contribute to shake the feodal government, than to establish a representative government.
1792 J. Downes Protest against T. Paine's ‘Rights of Man’ 27 What he chuses to call ‘the new representative system engrafted on Democracy’ is, according to his ideas, the only good plan of Government.
1795 J. Bicheno Word in Season 41 Suspicious of monarchy under every modification, they determined to adopt a representative form of government.
1830 Hansard's Parl. Deb. n.s. 24 1011/1 The hon. and gallant officer has said, that he did not think this colony would be fit for a representative system of government whilst slavery existed.
1830 J. Bentham Constit. Code in Wks. (1843) IX. 38 Under a representative democracy..there can be no lese majesty.
1852 A. R. Scoble tr. M. Guizot Hist. Origin Representative Govt. Europe i. i. 12 We do not then, make an arbitrary choice..when we make the representative form of government the central idea and aim of our history of the political institutions of Europe.
1861 Ld. Brougham Brit. Constit. (ed. 2) vi. 89 We mean by a Representative Government one in which the body of the people..elect their deputies to a chamber of their own.
1911 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 38 760 The preferential ballot for cities is a plan to restore majority elections and true representative government.
1928 F. D. Lugard (title) Representative forms of government and ‘indirect rule’ in British Africa.
1968 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 11 July 31/2 Those who really are committed to ‘participatory democracy’..are separated by an ideological abyss from those traditional representatives of ‘representative democracy’.
1991 J. Kingdom Local Govt. & Politics in Brit. viii. 120 Although councillors in the real world do not generally muse upon theories of representative government, they must establish a view of their role.
3. That exemplifies a wider group, class, or kind; (of an individual) typical; (of a sample or selection) balanced.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > an individual case or instance > [adjective] > typical of a class
exemplar1570
exemplary1593
typifying1653
speciminal1664
representative1788
typified1851
typal1853
specimen1860
typical1860
1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall V. xlix. 165 The college of princes and prelates..reduced to four representative votes the long series of independent counts.
1845 T. De Quincey Suspiria de Profundis in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 276/1 So representative are some acts, that one single case of the class is sufficient to throw open before you the whole theatre of possibilities in that direction.
1869 J. Tyndall in Fortn. Rev. 1 Feb. 238 This experiment is representative, and it illustrates a general principle.
1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets xi. 393 Amid this multitude of poems it is difficult to make a fair or representative selection.
1882 Daily News 27 Apr. 4/7 In the presence of a large and representative gathering the remains of the late Mr. Darwin were yesterday interred in Westminster Abbey.
1907 H. Westbrook & P. G. Wodehouse Not George Washington ii. ii. 42 I papered the walls with editorial rejection-forms, of which I was beginning to have a representative collection.
1924 L. H. Bailey Man. Cultivated Plants ii. 345 Later arose the great class of Remontants or Hybrid Perpetuals known for their recurrent seasons of bloom, of which Jacqueminot is a representative kind.
1986 B. Dijkstra Idols of Perversity iii. 74 His comments can therefore be regarded as representative of the late nineteenth-century's wisdom concerning the practice.
2007 Science 16 Feb. 909/1 Complex data sets can be more readily analyzed if representative samples can be identified.
4. Biology. That is the counterpart of a related species or subspecies of animal or plant found elsewhere; chiefly in representative form. Cf. represent v.1 7.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > distribution > [adjective] > representative or replacing
representative1844
1833 C. Darwin Animal Notes (Cambr. MS CUL-DAR29.1.A1-A49) f. 41v Several birds..representative species on each side [of the mountains].]
1844 Rep. 13th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1843 Reports 175 In each case the analogy is maintained, not by identical species only, but mainly by representative forms.
1845 C. Darwin Jrnl. (ed. 2) iii. 53 This close agreement in structure and habits, in representative species..always strikes one as interesting.
1909 H. Gadow in A. C. Seward Darwin & Mod. Sci. xvii. 327 The morphologist, the well-trained anatomist,..alone can determine whether we have to deal with homologous, or analogous, convergent, representative forms.
1959 Wilson Bull. 71 306 Rallus mirificus and R. pectoralis may form a superspecies, but the clear-cut differences between them..and the absence of representative forms elsewhere, leave little doubt that they are specifically distinct.
1996 Jrnl. Herpetol. 30 522/1 Only by attributing to ecological factors the absence of some representative forms from the sandy habitats at the right bank, could we come to accept the final stage of speciation proposed by the model.
II. That depicts or portrays, and related senses.
5. † b. Apparent, seeming. Obsolete. rare.
a. That renders a person or thing perceptible to the senses, esp. the sight; that serves to depict or portray. Frequently with of.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > representation > [adjective]
representing1577
representative1589
umbratical1633
presentative1642
representatory1693
sembling1706
expressive1713
representational1850
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xvi. 28 The playing places, and prouisions which were made for their pageants & pomps representatiue before remembred.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 69 They take vp the representatiue Bodie, intimating thereby his Resurrection.
1805 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Draw,..24. To form a representative image.
1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. iv. xv. 246 Inaccurate as this conception of rock was, it seems to have been the only one which, in mediæval art, had place as representative of mountain scenery.
1867 W. D. Howells Ital. Journeys 179 The group of statuary..representative of the Maremma and family returning thanks to the Grand Duke.
1911 K. Cox Classic Point of View (1912) vi. 196 The drawing, the light and shade, the coloring, however modified by artistic intention, must be more or less imitative or representative.
1997 J. Hatfield & G. Burt Unauthorized X-Cycl. 338 By concentrating on unexposed film negatives he could create a photograph representative of what he saw in his mind.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > appearance or aspect > [adjective] > seeming or apparent
huedc1000
showing?c1400
seemlya1450
apparissaunt1485
superficial1616
specious1617
semblable1627
apparent1645
representative1646
skin-deep1653
appearing1656
seemingly1725
semblative1814
semblant1840
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 82 That the bodies of Flies, Pismires and the like, which are said oft times to be included in Amber, are not reall but representative . View more context for this quotation
6.
a. Chiefly Philosophy. That presents or makes manifest to the mind; that describes or evokes a thing (esp. one existing in the external world); (of the mind, etc.) that imagines or forms a clear concept of a thing, or has the capacity to do this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > epistemology > [adjective] > of cognition > of doctrines and adherents of cognition theories
representative1605
Lockean1765
intuitional1865
intuitionistic1882
intuitionist1885
imagist1948
the mind > mental capacity > memory > [adjective] > capable of being remembered
attainable1647
recollectable1776
representative1814
recallable1870
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > [adjective] > exercising imagination
conceiving1592
imaginous1606
coining1630
representative1814
imaginant1840
visualizing1880
ideoplastic1883
fanciful-
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Ee2v The diuision of Poesie which is aptest in the proprietie therof..is into Poesie Narrative; Representative, and Allvsive... Representative is as a visible History, and is an Image of Actions as if they were present. View more context for this quotation
1670 S. Gott Divine Hist. Genesis World xii. 461 God being Infinite, and Infinitely Different from all Finite Nature, there is not, nor can there be, any thing like unto him, in any Intuitive or Representative maner whatsoever.
1701 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World I. 231 By our Ideas we ordinarily understand certain Representative Forms of things in our Minds, which we contemplate as the immediate Objects of them, so in like manner by the Divine Ideas we are to conceive the Representative Forms of things in the Mind of God.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. App. Representative power, in metaphysics, a term introduced by Leibnitz, to signify that power of the human soul, by which it represents to itself the universe.
1798 A. Crichton Inq. Mental Derangem. II. ii. vi. 10 A disproportionate activity of the representative faculty may arise from accidental causes.
1807 New Ann. Reg. 1806 Lit. Select. & Retrospect 216/2 He [sc. Descartes] held it as certain, that it is only a representative picture, form, or species of an object, that is present in the mind when we perceive, and not the object itself.
1814 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 38 211 The representative memory must be exercised.
1842 W. Hamilton Diss. in T. Reid Wks. II. 822/1 The distinction between perception as a presentative, and Memory..as a representative, cognition.
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xx. 13 We have thus a Representative Faculty; and this obtains the name of Imagination.
1885 R. L. Stevenson in Contemp. Rev. 47 553 In all ideal and material points, literature, being a representative art, must look for analogies to painting and the like.
1946 M. H. Carré Realists & Nominalists (1950) iii. 69 We are told that the mind grasps immediately, without representative interference, the objects which confront it.
2000 D. Moreau in S. Nadler Cambr. Compan. Malebranche iv. 107 The technical dispute over the nature of ideas as representative modalities makes sense only in the context of a larger framework.
b. Metaphysics and Psychology. Of the nature of or relating to representationalism (representationalism n. 1).See also presentative-representative adj. at presentative adj. and n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > epistemology > [adjective] > of perception > relating to other theories of
representative1830
cosmothetical1843
representationalist1846
representationist1846
representational1850
cosmothetica1856
hylo-ideal1883
1830 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 171 All possible forms of the representative hypothesis are thus reduced to three, and these have all been actually maintained. 1. The representative object not a modification of mind. 2. The representative object a modification of mind, dependent for its knowledge, but not for its existence, on the act of consciousness. 3. The representative object a modification of mind, non-existent out of consciousness.
1847 Blackwood's Mag. 62 242 It is the very essence..of the representative theory to recognise, in perception, a remote as well as a proximate object of the mind.
1851 H. L. Mansel Prolegomena Logica i. 29 Idea has been indifferently employed by modern philosophers, to denote the object of thought, of imagination, and even (under the representative hypothesis) of perception.
1904 W. James Ess. Radical Empiricism (1912) i. 11 ‘Representative’ theories of perception avoid the logical paradox, but on the other hand they violate the reader's sense of life, which knows no intervening mental image.
1934 A. C. Ewing Idealism vi. 283 By the term ‘representative theory of perception’ I mean to cover any theory of perception which admits the existence of physical objects in the realist sense but is not a direct theory.
1967 Encycl. Philos. VII. 80/2 Representative realism also accounts for illusions, dreams, images, hallucinations, and the relativity of perception.
2004 S. Haack in I. Niiniluoto et al. Handbk. Epistemol. iii. ix. 416 The realist position that contrasts with the representative theory of perception is perceptual realism, anticipated in some passages of Book IV of Locke's Essay..and articulated in Thomas Reid.
B. n.
I. A delegate or spokesperson, and related senses.† 2. A representative body or assembly. Obsolete.
1.
a. A person who represents others as a member of a legislative or deliberative assembly. Also (usually with capital initial): U.S. a title of respect for a member of the House of Representatives. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > delegated authority > one having delegated or derived authority > [noun] > representative > of a number of persons in a special capacity
representor1553
representative1635
representanta1641
representee1648
representer1648
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > [noun] > a representative assembly > member of
representor1553
deputy1600
representative1635
representee1648
representer1648
representant1831
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > in U.S.A. > lower house > member of
representative1809
gentlewoman1926
1635 in Hist. Coll. Essex Inst. (1862) IV. 93/1 By the towne rep [re] sentative, 22 of the 12th moneth.
1658 Stat. Virginia (1823) I. 502 Wee find..the present power of government to reside in such persons as shall be impowered by the Burgesses (the representatives of the people).
1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 109 in Justice Vindicated We will therefore enquire..whether a House of Commons, as it now stands, can be their Representative.
1671 E. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 5) i. ii. ii. 37 The Clergy of England had antiently their Representatives in the Lower House of Parliament.
1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 10. 67 The Elected became true Representatives of the Electors.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xxxv. 49 The English nation declare they are grossly injured by their representatives.
1787 Consititution U.S. i. §2 No person shall be a representative who shall not..be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
1809 E. A. Kendall Trav. Northern Parts U.S. I. v. 27 The deputies are now frequently denominated representatives. They were anciently called committee~men.
1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. iii. 13 The election of representatives of the Commons.
1907 D. R. Dewey Financial Hist. U.S. (ed. 3) cxcii. 456 In a letter to Representative Catchings he complained that, [etc.].
1979 Daily Tel. 8 Jan. 8 Members of Parliament are representatives and not delegates.
2006 C. Sheehan Peace Mom 57 When I read this letter from Representative Jones, I laid my head on Pat's lap and wept.
b. House of Representatives: the lower house of the United States Congress; (also) a similar legislative body in other countries or in a state of the United States.The House of Representatives is typically the lower house in a bicameral legislature; in New Zealand it is the sole chamber in a unicameral legislature.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > in Australia or New Zealand
House of Representatives1693
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > in U.S.A. > lower house
House of Representatives1693
1693 N. Bayard Narr. Attempt on Mohaques Country 14 By order of the House of Representatives James Graham, speaker.
1716 B. Church Entertaining Passages Philip's War ii. 86 Maj. Church being at Boston, and belonging to the House of Representatives.
1789 Constit. U.S. i. §1 A congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
1852 Act 15 & 16 Victoria c. 72 §40 For the Purpose of constituting the House of Representatives of New Zealand it shall be lawful for the Governor,..to summon and call together a House of Representatives in and for New Zealand.
1861 Ld. Brougham Brit. Constit. (ed. 2) App. ii. 410 The House of Representatives is chosen every two years by each of the States of the Union electing Deputies.
1891 National Australasian Convention Debates 23/1 This Convention approves of the framing of a federal constitution, which shall establish,—1. A parliament, to consist of a senate and a house of representatives.
1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. ii. 27 He was a member of the House of Representatives and of the Provincial Council.
1965 Austral. Encycl. VII. 9/1 The Speaker's chair in the House of Representatives is also of interest.
2007 U.S. News & World Rep. 29 Jan. 34/1 Over in the House of Representatives, the Democrats now in control raced through their 100-hours agenda.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > [noun] > a representative assembly
representative1647
representativer1676
1647 J. Harris Grand Designe sig. A2 At the beginning of this Parliament the whole representative declared against those illegal practises of the King and his Councell.
1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. 141 Such are the wayes of debate in the Grand Representative of the Kingdome.
1735 J. Swift Gulliver in Wks. III. 249 I desired that the Senate of Rome might appear before me in one large Chamber, and a modern Representative, in Counterview, in another.
1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. III. lx. 292 They pretended to employ themselves entirely in adjusting the laws, forms, and plan of a new representative.
3.
a. More generally: a person who stands for, speaks, or acts on behalf or another person or group of people, typically in an official capacity; spec. (a) Law an heir whose right of inheritance descends from a lineal ancestor; (b) a person appointed to represent a sovereign or government abroad.personal, safety representative, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > delegated authority > one having delegated or derived authority > [noun] > representative
representera1586
representator1603
representanta1641
mandatory1648
representative1649
alter egoa1695
rep1848
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > right to succeed to title, position, or estate > succession > [noun] > descent by inheritance > heir > one who represents another as
representative1766
1649 (title) The Representative Of Divers well-affected persons in and about the City of London,..Touching the present Laws, and Government, and future Establishment of Justice and right within this Kingdom.
1665 J. Crowne Pandion & Amphigenia ii. 271 There was a just cause of fear, though not in Agis, yet in Danpion his Heir, or Representative.
1691 D. Granville in Remains (1861) I. 121 I cannot..cease to charge the guilt of soe great a sin upon you my representative in my parish.
1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 212 From hence perhaps, kings have thought themselves representatives of God.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. xiii. 398 About the reign of king Henry the eighth..lord lieutenants began to be introduced, as standing representatives of the crown.
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. xiv. 210 Whenever a right of property transmissible to representatives is admitted.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth iv, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 109 Are we not representatives and successors of the stout old Romans?
1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. iv. 155 The stipulation of the treaty of Yandabo providing for the permanent residence of a representative of the British Government, at the capital of Ava.
1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel iii. 154 Perdiccas, Antipater [etc.]..were..guardians of the weak or infant representatives of Alexander.
1911 J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Warren's Wards xi. 180 He and his friends needed a representative on the press—a publicity agent, so to speak.
1958 E. Newby Short Walk in Hindu Kush ii. 24 [At] the Foreign Office..I was interviewed by a representative of the Asian Desk.
1989 S. Namjoshi Mothers of Maya Diip xvi. 119 ‘We will escort you,’ went on the Queen's Representative. ‘For your transport the Queen has sent a fleet of Rolls. Will they be suitable?’
2006 Sunday Tel. (Sydney) 14 May 33/1 Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts has agreed to serve as special representative for the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS.
b. In extended use. Chiefly with of.
ΚΠ
1673 I. Basire Dead Mans Real Speech 17 Both the Adams being publick Representatives of all mankind, as the first in the Fall, so the second in the Resurrection.
1693 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. I. iii. 110 They were punish'd for what Adam their Representative did long ago.
1725 M. Davys Lady's Tale 153 My Tears were the best Representatives of my wounded Heart.
1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 281 God permitted his two principal Creatures, the most immediate and most glorious Representatives of his divine Perfections, to fall off from their Allegiance.
1774 D. Garrick in J. Burgoyne Maid of Oaks Epil. With more than pow'r of parliament you sit, Despotic representatives of wit!
1809 S. T. Coleridge Friend 12 Oct. 140 Providence..had marked him out for the Representative of Reason.
1848 R. I. Wilberforce Doctr. Incarnation (1852) viii. 191 Through the indwelling of Deity, the representative of mankind was viewed with favour.
1858 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia I. iii. i. 195 He came as the representative of law and rule; and there had been many helping themselves by a ruleless life, of late.
1906 Mod. Philol. 4 16 Even Sir Christopher Wren, of whom we heard above as the representative of Palladianism, crudely imitated Gothic forms.
1988 Los Angeles Times 28 Feb. i. 6/6 Lewis attacked Noriega as the representative of what he called a new threat to Latin America—‘narco-militarism’.
1992 M. Medved Hollywood vs. Amer. ii. v. 83 The only representative of conventional religiosity in the show is the aging Aunt Martha.
2006 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 21 Dec. 61/2 Rilke..found in Lou not only a lover but a representative of the Mother—the eternal maternal.
c. A person employed to represent a company and its products to potential purchasers; spec. = sales representative n. at sale n.2 Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > [noun] > commercial traveller
rideout1752
rider1752
outrider1762
traveller1790
commercial traveller1807
bagman1808
town traveller1808
commis voyageur1825
roundman1827
drummer1828
travelling salesman1833
bag woman1845
commercial1861
fieldman1875
outride1879
roundsman1884
knight of the road1889
representative1918
sales representative1949
sales rep1959
rep1973
1918 Nat. Laundry Jrnl. 1 May 56/1 It really matters little whether he be known as a route man, salesman, or representative... Good route men are scarce.
1925 Pop. Mech. Oct. (Advt. section) 123/1 An Ozarka representative will gladly set up an Ozarka in your home.
1957 D. T. Clark & B. A. Gottfried Dict. Business & Finance 299/1 Representative, in selling, a salesman, either one employed by the seller or operating as an agent.
1976 Gramophone June 37/3 Raymond Cooke and Robert Cox of KEF demonstrated the excellence of their loudspeakers and there were recitals by record industry representatives.
1998 E. Bignell Which? Way to save & Invest (ed. 10) v. 77 Although you can ask a company representative to sell you another company's product, the rep can't actually give you advice on it.
II. Something which stands for or depicts another.† 7. Something which depicts or portrays a subject. Obsolete. rare.
4. Something which (or occasionally a person who) stands for or denotes another; a sign, a symbol; an image, an embodiment.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > representation > physical representation of abstraction > [noun] > one who or that which
common person1535
figurer1548
representor1553
representera1586
representator1603
representative1638
embodier1654
butt-cut1830
thinger1883
1638 E. Reynolds Medit. on Holy Sacrament ii. 9 The nature of a Sacrament is to be the representative of a substance, the signe of a covenant, the seale of a purchase, [etc.]
1690 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. ii. xiii. §151 So [the supreme executor of the law] is to be consider'd as the Image, Phantom, or Representative of the Commonwealth.
1715 J. Addison Freeholder No. 27. ⁋7 Among other statues he observed that of Rumour whispering an ideot in the ear, who was the representative of Credulity.
1754 S. Bowden Poems on Var. Subj. 385 Are these the presents friends bestow? Sad representatives of woe! Black trophys of departing breath, Signals of darkness, and of death.
1788 J. Priestley Lect. Hist. iii. xv. 122 Money is only a commodious representative of the commodities which may be purchased with it.
1817 G. S. Faber 8 Diss. (1845) II. 199 In the sphere, the Moon or Naviform Lunar Crescent was the astronomical representative of the Ark.
1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 29 519 Among other allegorical emblems of nations, as the representative and express image of Anglicism, he drew a naked man.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind vi. 111 When man has got some way in developing the religious element in him, he begins to catch the device of setting a puppet or a stone as the symbol and representative of the notions of a higher being.
1906 C. S. Peirce in Monist 16 506 By a Seme, I shall mean anything which serves for any purpose as a substitute for an object of which it is, in some sense, a representative or Sign... The term ‘The mortality of man’ is a Seme.
1920 J. Laird Study in Realism i. 10 Others..maintain that knowledge of a thing is the possession of an image or representative of it, so that we know anything when we possess certain pictures or tokens, and not otherwise.
1935 E. Schrödinger in Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 31 556 Let x and y stand for all the coordinates of the first and second systems respectively and Ψ(x, y) for the normalized representative of the state of the composed system.
1986 B. Dijkstra Idols of Perversity ix. 325 A creature blindly guided by a hog, the symbol of Circe, the bestial representative of all sexual evil.
5. Something (esp. a living organism) which exemplifies a wider group, class, or kind; a type or example of something.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > an individual case or instance > [noun] > typical or representative case > typical or representative thing or person
forbysenc1175
figurea1340
forbyseninga1400
samplera1400
plot1551
pattern1555
resembler1581
representative1653
specimen1654
exponent1825
type1845
typification1845
1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations lxiii. 390 We shall single out some one kinde of these [sc. viviparous animals], as an Exemplar or Representative of all the rest.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 457. ¶2 I have two Persons, that are each of them the Representative of a Species.
1783 Ann. Reg. 1781 Nat. Hist. 37/1 Few tribes of quadrapeds have in Africa more representatives of their different species than that of the cat.
1824 C. Lamb in London Mag. Sept. 225/2 A few bricks only lay as representatives of that which was so stately and so spacious.
1873 H. B. Tristram Land of Moab vi. 104 Three terebinth trees, the solitary representatives of timber we met with.
1896 R. Lydekker Brit. Mammals 62 Since the sole British representative of this Family is the Common Mole, [etc.].
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 249/2 Albanian is peculiarly interesting as the only surviving representative of the so-called Thraco-Illyrian group of languages which formed the primitive speech of the peninsula.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xxxix. 734 Uranium, the element of highest atomic weight, is perhaps a representative of another group of transition-elements, but this group is at present purely hypothetical.
2007 Neuroscience 147 236/2 The lamprey, a representative of a group of early vertebrata, swims using undulatory movements of its eel-like body.
6. Something which occupies the place or performs the role or function of another; an equivalent, a counterpart, an analogue.
ΚΠ
1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations lx. 369 For an egg is as it were an exposed womb; wherein there is a substance concluded, as the Representative, and Substitute or Vicar of the Breasts.
1846 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. III. 829/1 This impair bone..is..the representative of the superior occipitals of Cuvier.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. ix. 94 The veritable sugar has been long ago defunct; but we have its representative molasses.
1896 R. Lydekker Brit. Mammals 62 The arm-bone, or humerus, in the True Moles is almost square, and..unlike its representative in ordinary Mammals.
1948 Trans. Royal Soc. Trop. Med. & Hygiene 42 249 R. exulans concolor is the westernmost representative of a species which ranges right across the Pacific Islands.
2002 Auk 119 344/2 The P. d. maculosus representative from Brazil was relatively distant from other members of the species.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > representation in art > [noun] > an artistic representation
ylikenesseOE
likenessOE
anlikenessOE
ylikeOE
imagec1300
acornc1388
portraiturea1393
resemblancea1393
semblanta1400
counterfeitc1400
shapec1400
statuec1405
representation1477
presentationa1513
presentment1535
effigy1539
porture1542
express1553
effigium1564
representance1565
designment1570
icon1572
mimesisa1586
effigies1615
expressurea1616
represent1615
signature1618
proportion1678
representative1766
rendering1825
buggerlugs1839
effigiation1876
1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality II. xii. 292 I argued with myself that it might be a family picture, the representative of a brother or a dear relation deceased.
Compounds
representative fraction n. Cartography the ratio of a distance on a map to the distance it represents on the ground; abbreviated R.F.
ΚΠ
1860 Exam. Candidates for Admission Royal Mil. College, Sandhurst June 25 Draw a scale of 4 miles to an inch to measure yards, and give its representative fraction.
1886 H. D. Hutchinson Mil. Sketching made Easy i. 2 If the Representative Fraction is marked on a sketch, the scale can be understood, and the sketch can be used, by anyone, even though it be a foreign one.
1928 Geogr. Jrnl. 71 477 The redrawn map is on a scale 0.78 that of the original, which reduces the representative fraction to 1/649,000.
2002 T. G. Feeman Portraits of Earth iii. 17 The representative fraction for a map does not depend on the unit of measurement one uses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.n.a1475