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archetype

In psychology, an archetype is the innate knowledge, images, or ways of thinking that are inherited from ancestors. (noun)

An event that might be an archetype is birth.

An archetype is the first of its kind and the basis for all to follow it. (noun)

An example of an archetype is Frankenstein whose character influenced many future characters of horror books and movies.

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See archetype in Webster's New World College Dictionary

See archetype in American Heritage Dictionary 4

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