apocalypse
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//əˈpɒkəlɪps//
- United States//əˈpɑkəlɪps//
A revealing, especially a prophecy of, or the unfolding of, supernatural events.
noun
- 1
A revealing, especially a prophecy of, or the unfolding of, supernatural events.
The early development of Perl 6 was punctuated by a series of apocalypses by Larry Wall.
- 2
A huge disaster; a cataclysmic event; destruction or ruin of large scope and scale.
Near-synonyms: cataclysm, catastrophe, holocaust; armageddon, doomsday, end times, eschaton, judgement day, judgment day
A nuclear apocalypse would have been possible if tensions went out of control during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Man has forgotten the soul and thus doomed his civilization to apocalypse.
The Spanish mission in America soon became not so much crusade as apocalypse.
- 3
The unveiling of events prophesied in the Revelation; the second coming and the end of life on Earth; global destruction.
Meronyms: Final Judgment, Judgment Day, judgement day, judgment day
Near-synonym: Ragnarok
- 4
The Book of Revelation.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Hellenic *apó Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό (ăpó) Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-) Ancient Greek καλύπτω (kalúptō) Ancient Greek ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Hellenic *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σις (-sis) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ποκᾰ́λῠψῐς (ăpokắlŭpsĭs)der. Latin apocalypsisbor. Middle English apocalips English apocalypse From Middle English apocalips, from Latin apocalypsis, from Ancient Greek ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis, “revelation”, literally “uncovering”), from ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō, “to reveal”), from ἀπό (apó, “back, away from”) + καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”), + -σις (-sis, suffix forming nouns). 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. The verb is from the noun and, in sense 1, a semantic loan from the etymonic Ancient Greek verb ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō, “to reveal”).
verb
- 1
To reveal.
The transitory sufferings of the present time can never be put in competition with the glory which shall be apocalypsed in us; for even the creation itself, which shall not possess the glory, shall nevertheless derive from them such real solid benefit, such true freedom from real ills, that she also is desirous of our apocalypse.
“And that man of sin be revealed—apocalypsed—the son of perdition; the opposing one who exalts himself against all that is called God.” […] “And then shall be apocalypsed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth, and will paralyse with the forth-shining of His arrival.[…]”
We chewed breaded blasphemy in our pews, / Then gulped Welch’s grape juice, bile, and venom, / While alabaster Christ carped like a cop, / His lips apocalypsing our asses.
Still and all, there’s hope, crushed underfoot but radical, that some unlikely spring the happenforce that heals may ply its therapy not only in the wintered world but in each wounded and degraded heart, apocalypsing us into whatever paradise is possible, all obscenity absolved, when only lovers in their greening time will come wandering over the hill.
- 2
informalTo dwell on a huge disaster one expects to take place.
“To Las Vegas? When was that?” “About four months before she died. When he was twenty-one. Just before he started in on all that preaching and apocalypsing business. […] Had him a vision, he said, and God told him to change his name to Sam-u-el Mor-de-cai. And ever since then he’s been apocalypsing and doing all them cult things you read about in the newspaper.”
This doesn’t mean that you pretend the tornado in Kansas didn’t happen. Perhaps it spurs you to think about emergency preparedness. But you’ll be planning proactively, in the present, not worrying or apocalypsing.
In one respect only was Donald Trump indebted to the conservative movement that Ronald Reagan founded: it bequeathed to him an angry, fearful base, which he was even more adept at manipulating than movement leaders had been. He destroyed his Republican adversaries by out-apocalypsing them.
And it was definitely a white American fear, of losing my status, my power. The fear manifested in me as an amorphous foreboding, a discomfort with being subject to the planet and its miracles the same as everyone else was. […] How would my fear change if I stopped apocalypsing and tried to embody this moment in collapse?
- 3
informalTo bring about (a huge disaster).
The fourth age of this Lunaeon is alive with povertous homage / For those whom^([sic]) chew upon the Rockking’s wealth / And worship his unlovable stone / Apocalypsing an end to this ever-there-be-day / Wear a cloak of benightly screaming / Banshees, eager to roam whence / Windrom releases their pent rage
“Robots still win,” I said. “What about if the robots don’t start…apocalypsing, until after half of humanity is turned?” “Robots still win,” I said, “easy.”
Forms
- plural
- apocalypses
- past tense
- apocalypsed
- past participle
- apocalypsed
- present participle
- apocalypsing
- third person singular
- apocalypses
apocalypse · A revealing, especially a prophecy of, or the unfolding of, supernatural events.
Apocalypse · The written account of a revelation of hidden things given by…Apollo · The son of Zeus and Leto (or Jupiter and Latona), and the…apologies · A list of people unable to attend a meeting, typically…