oriflamme
/'ɔriflæm/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- A historical banner: A red or orange-red flag used as a royal standard by early French kings, especially in battle.
- An inspiring symbol: An ideal, principle, or symbol that serves as a rallying point or a source of inspiration in a struggle or cause.
Usage Examples
- Noun (Historical Banner):
- The king's oriflamme was unfurled as the army prepared to charge.
- The medieval tapestry depicted knights following the golden oriflamme into battle.
- Noun (Inspiring Symbol):
- For the revolutionaries, the concept of liberty became their oriflamme.
- Her speech served as an oriflamme, uniting the community behind a common goal.
Advanced Usage
- Used figuratively: The term is most commonly used in a figurative or literary sense to describe an abstract rallying symbol, rather than a literal flag.
- The scientist's unwavering commitment to truth was the oriflamme for her entire research team.
Variants and Related Words
- Standard (n): A flag or other symbol serving as an emblem of a group or cause.
- Banner (n): A long strip of cloth bearing a slogan or design, carried in a demonstration or procession or hung in a public place.
- Ensign (n): A flag, especially a military or naval one indicating nationality.
Synonyms
- Emblem: A heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization, or family.
- Symbol: A mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process.
- Rallying point: A place, event, or person that attracts people with a shared interest or purpose and unites them in action.
Related Phrases and Idioms
- To serve as an oriflamme: To act as a powerful, inspiring symbol that motivates people.
- His courage in the face of adversity served as an oriflamme for others.
- To raise the oriflamme: To present or champion an inspiring cause or ideal.
- The new leader raised the oriflamme of social justice.
Noun
- a red or orange-red flag used as a standard by early French kings
- an inspiring symbol or ideal that serves as a rallying point in a struggle