What's the difference between epic and heroic?

Epic


Definition:

  • (a.) Narrated in a grand style; pertaining to or designating a kind of narrative poem, usually called an heroic poem, in which real or fictitious events, usually the achievements of some hero, are narrated in an elevated style.
  • (n.) An epic or heroic poem. See Epic, a.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) His first ball reaches Ali at hip height and he flicks him to fine leg for a boundary that takes him to a quite epic century.
  • (2) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government has joined MPs, bloggers and local media in denouncing the newly-released Warner Brothers epic, 300, as a calculated attempt to demonise Iran at a time of intensifying US pressure over the country's nuclear programme.
  • (3) The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards didn’t achieve the same degree of controversy as last year’s celebration of tongues, twerking and teddy bears , but between a speech by a homeless teen, an ill-timed wardrobe malfunction, and Beyoncé’s spectacular, epic, show-stopping finale, there were nevertheless a few moments worth watching.
  • (4) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Global trade unions called the collapse ‘mass industrial homicide’, while Vogue magazine described it as ‘tragedy on an epic scale’.
  • (5) This is a report on our experience with the EPICS C (Coultronics) cytometric flux apparatus, a screening cell analyzer, employing a laser ray (2 or 5 watts); we obtained good results to analyze immunologically-tagged mononuclear blood cells with or without prior separation: for rhythm, repeatability, and contamination.
  • (6) In the latest round of the epic divorce battle between Michelle and Scot Young, the judge, Mr Justice Moor, is making a fresh attempt to discover how much the property dealer is worth.
  • (7) But here he is, feeling as if this epic encounter with his own music is something he’d rather not deal with.
  • (8) RSL kick off... 3.09am GMT Speaking of epic... …this might be a spurious link, but I don't care.
  • (9) As he described, with something approaching relish, the horrifying effect of a desperate eurozone willing to destroy the British economy, our industry and our society, purely to protect itself, I was reminded of the epic Last Judgement by John Martin, now in the Tate, which depicts the terrifying chaos as the good are separated from the evil damned.
  • (10) It was made into a silent film in 1925, and then one of the definitive Hollywood epics in 1959, starring Charlton Heston alongside 10,000 extras and 2,500 horses – it became a huge box office success and won 11 Oscars.
  • (11) Armitage's stage version, commissioned for the in-the-round Royal Exchange in Manchester, a space that can encompass both the intimate and the epic, reworks The Iliad , adding an ending Homer never wrote.
  • (12) Friday's ruling, combined with Trafigura's epic failure to suppress information, suggests that courts may be less willing to issue such injunctions in future.
  • (13) After a couple of weeks they started sending me on epic coffee runs – it's quite a balancing act to transport 10 skinny cappuccinos.
  • (14) I never felt stirrings of faith – apart from when faced with natural wonders such as the multilayered celestial splendour of a night sky, my newborn babies, an epic coastline – so I embraced tolerance and tried to remain open to the multitude of organised belief systems I don’t share.
  • (15) Those kind of moments are epic, like Cathy Freeman in the Sydney Olympics.
  • (16) A rsenal versus Manchester United was a fixture that dominated the chase for trophies in the late 90s and early Noughties – a rivalry in no small part formed by an epic FA Cup semi-final replay in 1999.
  • (17) The epic struggle to keep Greece solvent and in the eurozone intensified on Saturday night amid signs of a looming crisis within the anti-austerity government that took Europe ablaze barely three months ago.
  • (18) It would be an epic, devastatingly hilarious battle on the scale of Godzilla and Mothra.
  • (19) Rather than head back towards the Saas Valley in the east via Grächen, we head west, taking a train to St Niklaus, a cable car to Jungu, then hike east to Gruben, to stay at the historic but simple Hotel Schwarzhorn, before ending our epic journey with a final night in luxury, at the charming hotel Bella Tola in St-Luc.
  • (20) Titanic now comes in behind 1977's Star Wars, 1965's The Sound of Music, 1982's ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, and even the 1956 Charlton Heston biblical epic The Ten Commandments.

Heroic


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or pertaining to, or like, a hero; of the nature of heroes; distinguished by the existence of heroes; as, the heroic age; an heroic people; heroic valor.
  • (a.) Worthy of a hero; bold; daring; brave; illustrious; as, heroic action; heroic enterprises.
  • (a.) Larger than life size, but smaller than colossal; -- said of the representation of a human figure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "The performance of Italy and France kind of puts Ireland's heroic non-qualification in context," suggests Sean DeLoughry, giving everyone pause for thought.
  • (2) But 30 minutes before takeoff on our private jet – like a top-end Lexus limo with wings – actress Rosamund Pike has heroically stepped in for the year's hot meal ticket: an El Bulli supper, pitch perfect for a selection of rare champagne, devised by Adrià with Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon's effervescent chef de cave.
  • (3) Sudden cardiac death is frequently an unexpected first clinical manifestation of coronary artery disease and, despite heroic efforts, treatment of sudden death victims is frequently unsuccessful.
  • (4) The popular appeal of the "School Shield" program hinges on believing in heroics; good public policy depends on preventing the need for them.
  • (5) As part of Return of Forces to Germany 1990, a number of Second Armored Division soldiers participated in the heroic rescue of German and American civilians injured in a 32-vehicle crash on an autobahn in West Germany.
  • (6) The first unstable six years of his presidency may not have provided a heroic record, but his second term proved to be important in the restoration of democracy to his country.
  • (7) As a result of the blast, there were martyrs and wounded among our heroic armed comrades,” the military said.
  • (8) At a press conference held outside the temple on Sunday, Oak Creek police chief John Edwards said the "heroic actions" of the two officers "stopped this from being worse than it could have been", noting that many people had gathered for worship at the time of the attack.
  • (9) Such approaches, while often heroic and unusually creative in character, have limited the exportability of hardware or software products to the larger biomedical community.
  • (10) Consequently, the assumption or normative postulate of a 'rational' (scientific) risk assessment and risk management appears to be utterly heroic and, in the end, misleading.
  • (11) Point one read: “Create the rebirth of heroical behavioural ideals of an artist-intellectual… the artist as romantic hero, who prevails over evil.
  • (12) It is part horror-show, part cautionary tale, and partly heroic example.
  • (13) Manufacturing is weak and weakening ; the employment gap between the rich and the poor is the widest on record ; the economic recovery is actually more like an extended stagnation with 12 million people unemployed; the housing "recovery" will be stalled as long as incomes are low and house prices are high ; and quantitative easing as a stimulus, while a heroic independent effort by the Federal Reserve, is past its due date and is no longer improving the country's fortunes beyond the stock market .
  • (14) And I think Chinese media are going to play it out in a very heroic way."
  • (15) Yet there was heroic virtue in the man, in the way he answered the demands of his day job as a civil servant and then devoted what ought to have been free time for his own work to responding to the work of others.
  • (16) The diplomats told Washington that certain themes in American movies seemed to appeal to the Saudi audience: heroic honesty in the face of corruption (George Clooney in Michael Clayton), supportive behaviour in relationships (an unspecified drama that was repeated during an Eid holiday featuring an American husband dealing with a drunk wife who smashed cars and crockery when she wasn't assaulting him and their child), and respect for the law over self-interest (Al Pacino and Robin Williams in Insomnia).
  • (17) And then there's her heroically blunt songs, such as You're Gonna Die Soon , performed to a group of octogenarians.
  • (18) Comrades from the heroic anti-colonial days retired, drifted away or were pushed out – in the case of President Devan Nair in 1985, after a humiliating allegation of alcoholism that he contested.
  • (19) On Tuesday Khamenei used the expression "heroic leniency", which is being interpreted as a euphemism for a softer stance on foreign policy.
  • (20) "This heroic gesture by Hazara families [in Quetta] has inspired ordinary citizens and Pakistan's scared civil society to come out and be counted and basically put an end to terrorism.