victoriousvocabulary:

PARAGON

[noun]

1. a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence.

2. someone of exceptional merit; virtuosity.

3. Printing: a 20-point type.

4. Jewellery: a) an unusually large, round pearl. b) an unflawed diamond weighing at least 100 carats.

[verb]

5. Rare: to compare; parallel.

6. Archaic: to be a match for; rival.

7. Obsolete: to surpass.

8. Obsolete: to regard as a paragon.

Etymology: via French from Old Italian paragone, “comparison”, from Mediaeval Greek parakonē, “whetstone”, from Greek parakonan, “to sharpen against”, from para- + akonan, “to sharpen”, from akonē, “whetstone”.

[kittrose]