apocalypse

See also: Apocalypse

English

Etymology

From Middle English apocalips, from Latin apocalypsis, from Ancient Greek ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis, “revelation”), literally meaning "uncovering", from ἀπό (apó, “back, away from”) and καλύπτω (kalúptō, “I cover”). The sense evolution to "catastrophe, end of the world" stems from the depiction of such events in the biblical Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse of (i.e. Revelation to) John.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /əˈpɒkəlɪps/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /əˈpɑkəlɪps/
  • Hyphenation: a‧poc‧a‧lypse

Noun

apocalypse (plural apocalypses)

  1. A revelation, especially of supernatural events. [from 14th c.]
    The early development of Perl 6 was punctuated by a series of apocalypses by Larry Wall.
  2. (Christianity) The unveiling of events prophesied in the Revelation; the second coming and the end of life on Earth; global destruction. [from 19th c.]
  3. (Christianity) The Book of Revelation.
  4. A disaster; a cataclysmic event; destruction or ruin. [from 19th c.]
    A nuclear apocalypse would have been possible if tensions went out of control during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 180:
      Man has forgotten the soul and thus doomed his civilization to apocalypse.
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 699:
      The Spanish mission in America soon became not so much crusade as apocalypse.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms
English terms prefixed with apo-
English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱel-‎ (2 c, 2 e)

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References

French

Etymology

From Latin apocalypsis, from Ancient Greek ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis).

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Noun

apocalypse f (plural apocalypses)

  1. apocalypse (disaster)

Further reading

Latin

Noun

apocalypse

  1. ablative singular of apocalypsis
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