allegorical

Etymology

It is formed from English allegoric + -al.^[2][3] The OED analyses it as Late Latin allegoricus with the English suffix,^[3] and Dictionary.com likewise,^[4] while Etymonline traces the word through French allégorique.^[5] The Latin adjective, recorded from the late 2nd century in Tertullian, is from Ancient Greek ἀλληγορικός (allēgorikós),^[3][6] from ἀλληγορία (allēgoría, “figurative language”), the source of allegory.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of allegory: 1528, in W. Tyndale's Obedience of a Christen Man,^[3][6] which agrees with the 1520s in Etymonline.^[5] The shorter form allegoric is older, from about 1395 in the later version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning, and the longer form has become the usual one: the Shorter Oxford calls allegorical now more usual than allegoric.^[2] Scriptural interpretation gave it a more specific use, for a hidden spiritual meaning beyond the literal sense of sacred books;^[6] Etymonline describes an allegorical interpretation as one that draws spiritual or figurative meaning out of historical matter.^[5] Johnson (1755) glossed it "not real; not literal; mystical", quoting Bentley on the "allegorical and mystical sense" of Jesus's words about eating his flesh, and Pope on the allegorical application of Apollo's shooting to the rays of the sun.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1395 – the form allegoric.^[3]
• 1528 – the form allegorical, of or containing an allegory.^[3][6]
• mid 16th century – the adverb allegorically.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, used in or having the character of allegory; containing or forming an allegory: an allegorical mural of Justice.^[8][6][3]
2. Stressing a hidden spiritual meaning beyond the literal sense of a sacred text.^[6]

Word family

• allegorically
• allegoricalness
• nonallegorical
• unallegorical

Related words

• allegory
• allegoric
• allegorize

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins