Part of speech:

Adjective: "He plays an archetypical villain;" "She starts by sketching an archetypical house."

Other forms: 

The noun is "archetype," and it's the countable kind: "These authors start with archetypes but find creative ways to flesh them out."

If you need an adverb, there's "archetypically," as in "I guess Mario and Luigi are supposed to be archetypically Italian."

If you prefer, instead of "archetypical," you can say "archetypal." (It's pronounced "AR kuh tie pull.") But I like to stick with "archetypical" because it looks and sounds more like "typical" and "stereotypical," and that's good: when we call something archetypical, we're saying it's typical in the sense that it conforms to a general template, or to a general widespread idea that most people readily think of.

When you want to emphasize just how typical, standard, normal, or even tropal something is, but you don't want the negative tone of "tropal" or "stereotypical," reach for "archetypical" instead.

When you're talking about fiction, you might mention archetypical characters, scenes, conflicts, plotlines, images, symbols, or themes.

And when you're talking about real life, you might talk about archetypical people, places, things, groups, or ideas: "She's an archetypical devoted daughter;" "It's an archetypical paradise;" "That was an archetypical crossroads for her in her career;" "They're an archetypical evil corporation;" "It was an archetypical American dream."

examples:

"If the great male detectives are archetypically loners, female detectives are doubly so."
— Anne Holt, The Guardian, 8 December 2010

"Neanderthals are often depicted in caricatures as the archetypical brutish and stupid 'cave people', but recent evidence has changed their image."
— Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 2011

has this page helped you understand "archetypical"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "archetypical" without saying "classic" or "standard."

try it out:

The writer Hazel Cills told the Guardian that popular culture has room for many different kinds of fictional witches.

"Witches are really like a tabula rasa now – it’s not like vampires or werewolves or other archetypical monsters where there's a rulebook," she said.

See if you can explain what she means. What is an archetypical witch? And can you think of any examples of fictional witches that veer away from that archetype?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "That’s What They Said."

Consider a quote from The Office, and decide which of three given terms you can most easily connect it to. You can see my suggested answer by scrolling to the bottom of the issue. But yours doesn’t need to match mine. 

For example, if I give you this:

Kelly: "I talk a lot, so I've learned to just tune myself out." Abstemious, garrulous, or ominous?

Then you might answer, "Garrulous, because Kelly talks on and on."

Try this one today:

Pam: "And I feel God in this Chili's tonight." Frisson, serendipity, or esprit de l'escalier?

review this word:

1. The opposite of ARCHETYPICAL is

A. APOCRYPHAL (fully or partly made-up).
B. AMICABLE (friendly, with no hatred and no fighting).
C. ABERRANT (strange in a way that deviates from expectations).

2. "There is nothing more archetypical than the Caped Crusader," Eric Kohn wrote, pointing out how Batman _____ our culture's definition of a superhero.

A. practically rewrites
B. perfectly conforms to
C. constantly challenges

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. B Suggested answer to the game question: I'd go with frisson, because Pam feels a thrill as she senses a heavenly presence. Assuming she's sincere. :)

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.