Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

Götterdämmerung

American  
[got-er-dam-uh-roong, -ruhng, gœt-uhr-dem-uh-roong] / ˌgɒt ərˈdæm əˌrʊŋ, -ˌrʌŋ, ˌgœt ərˈdɛm əˌrʊŋ /

noun

  1. German Mythology. the destruction of the gods and of all things in a final battle with evil powers: erroneous modern translation of the Old Icelandic Ragnarǫk, meaning “fate of the gods,” misunderstood as Ragnarökkr, meaning “twilight of the gods.”

  2. (italics) See The Ring of the Nibelung.


Götterdämmerung British  
/ ɡœtərˈdɛmərʊŋ, ˌɡɒtəˈdɛməˌrʊŋ /

noun

  1. Norse equivalent: RagnarökGerman myth the twilight of the gods; their ultimate destruction in a battle with the forces of evil

"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

Etymology

Origin of Götterdämmerung

1875–80; < German, equivalent to Götter, plural of Gott God + Dämmerung twilight

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The global financial crisis, which proved fatal for some competing institutions, was almost Mr. Blankfein’s Götterdämmerung as well.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

The war state is a Götterdämmerung, as Dwight Macdonald writes, "without the gods."

From Salon • May 7, 2023

I assumed that he would only choose all-out war in Ukraine if he felt he was threatened by outside forces in the Götterdämmerung of his regime.

From Slate • Feb. 26, 2022

About the waves, Mr. Finnegan tells us, “I realized I was seeing long German words in Gothic script, Arbeiterpartei and Oberkommando and Weltanschauung and Götterdämmerung, marching incongruously across the warm gray walls.”

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2015

His light was not lost in a storm-cloud nor eclipse, but in the awful Radnorok, the Götterdämmerung, when sun and stars fall from a blank heaven.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science October, 1877. Vol XX - No. 118 by Various

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "Götterdämmerung" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com