proverbial.
Of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.
Meaning & usage
Of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.
The busyness of a beaver is proverbial.
The beaver in this instance upheld the reputation of the proverbial one: her output was prodigious.
Optionally placed before an element of a well-known proverb or metaphor to emphasize that the element is not being used in a literal sense (see Usage notes below)
the proverbial smoking gun
the proverbial spilled milk
Widely known; famous; stereotypical.
I grew up in a prefab house on Main Street in 1950s suburbia, the second and last child of a proverbial nuclear family.
Where this word comes from
From Latin prōverbiālis, equivalent to proverb + -ial
Used to replace a word that might be considered unacceptable in a particular situation, when using a well-known phrase.
I think we should be prepared in case the proverbial hits the fan.
Are you taking the proverbial?
The groin or the testicles.
You'll find they've got you by the proverbials.
Where this word comes from
From Latin prōverbiālis, equivalent to proverb + -ial
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.