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Classic vs Excursus - What's the difference?

classic | excursus |

As nouns the difference between classic and excursus

is that classic is a perfect and/or early example of a particular style while excursus is a fuller treatment (in a separate section) of a particular part of the text of a book, especially a classic.

As an adjective classic

is of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.

classic

English

Alternative forms

* classick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
  • * 1661 , , The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
  • During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant
  • * (Lord Byron) (1788-1824)
  • Give, as thy last memorial to the age, / One classic drama, and reform the stage.
  • Exemplary of a particular style.
  • Exhibiting timeless quality.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-01-01, author=Paul Bartel, Ashli Moore
  • , volume=101, issue=1, page=47–48, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Avian Migration: The Ultimate Red-Eye Flight , passage=Many of these classic methods are still used, with some modern improvements. For example, with the aid of special microphones and automated sound detection software, ornithologists recently reported […] that pine siskins (Spinus pinus ) undergo an irregular, nomadic type of nocturnal migration.}}
  • Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, especially to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds.
  • * (Felicia Hemans) (1804-1864)
  • Though throned midst Latium's classic plains.
  • (euphemistic) Traditional; original.
  • Synonyms

    * classical

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A perfect and/or early example of a particular style.
  • An artistic work of lasting worth
  • The author of such a work.
  • * Macaulay
  • Raised him to the rank of a legitimate English classic .
  • A major, long-standing sporting event
  • (dated) One learned in the literature of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome; a student of classical literature.
  • See also

    * classical * classics

    excursus

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A fuller treatment (in a separate section) of a particular part of the text of a book, especially a classic.
  • A narrative digression, especially to discuss a particular issue.
  • * 1979 , Kyril Bonfiglioli, After You with the Pistol , Penguin 2001, p. 204:
  • Here is what us scholars call an excursus . If you are an honest man the following page or two can be of no possible interest to you.
  • * 2007 , Glen Bowersock, ‘Provocateur’, London Review of Books 29:4, p. 16:
  • In his excursus on the Jewish people at the opening of the fifth book of his Histories [...], Tacitus was at a loss to uncover any deep cause for the war that broke out in 66.