Armageddon

[ ahr-muh-ged-n ]

noun
  1. the place where the final battle will be fought between the forces of good and evil (probably so called in reference to the battlefield of Megiddo. Revelation 16:16).

  2. the last and completely destructive battle: The arms race can lead to Armageddon.

  1. any great and crucial conflict.

Origin of Armageddon

1
First recorded in 1580–90; Middle English Hermagedon, Old English Ermagedon, from Late Latin Hermagedōn, Armagedōn, from Greek Harmagedṓn, from Hebrew har măgiddō (măgiddōn) “mountain of Megiddo”; see Megiddo

Words Nearby Armageddon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Armageddon in a sentence

  • For a long time after he had gone to bed Hyacinth lay awake haunted by his father's prophecy of an Armageddon.

    Hyacinth | George A. Birmingham
  • The letter seemed the first clear note of the trumpet summoning him to his father's Armageddon.

    Hyacinth | George A. Birmingham
  • They recalled, as so many different things seemed to do, his father's vision of an Armageddon.

    Hyacinth | George A. Birmingham
  • There still recurred to him memories of his father's vision of an Armageddon and the conception of his own part in it.

    Hyacinth | George A. Birmingham
  • Such were the numbers and such the carnage that men have compared the conflict to that of the nations at Armageddon.

    The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte | William Milligan Sloane

British Dictionary definitions for Armageddon

Armageddon

/ (ˌɑːməˈɡɛdən) /


noun
  1. New Testament the final battle at the end of the world between the forces of good and evil, God against the kings of the earth (Revelation 16:16)

  2. a catastrophic and extremely destructive conflict, esp World War I viewed as this

Origin of Armageddon

1
C19: from Late Latin Armagedōn, from Greek, from Hebrew har megiddōn, mountain district of Megiddo, in N Palestine, site of various battles in the Old Testament

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Armageddon

Armageddon

[ (ahr-muh-ged-n) ]


In the Book of Revelation, the site of the final and conclusive battle between good and evil, involving “the kings of the Earth and the whole world,” on the “great day of God Almighty.”

Notes for Armageddon

Figuratively, “Armageddon” is any great battle or destructive confrontation.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.