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.

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Götterdämmerung British  

/ ɡœtərˈdɛmərʊŋ, ˌɡɒtəˈdɛməˌrʊŋ /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of Götterdämmerung

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

Example Sentences

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

In a the 1985 San Francisco “Ring” cycle, for example, Brünnhilde began her bridal night at the finale to “Siegfried” in a virginal white gown and emerged at the opening of Götterdämmerung in blazing red.

From New York Times • Sep. 1, 2015

He manifests the greatest strength in his unfinished fragment Hyperion, "the Götterdämmerung of the early Grecian gods."

From Halleck's New English Literature by Halleck, Reuben Post