incarnation

[in-kahr-ney-shuhn]

noun

1. an incarnate being or form.

2. a living being embodying a deity or spirit.

3. assumption of human form or nature.

4. (sometimes lowercase),  the Incarnation, the doctrine that the second person of the Trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ and is completely both God and man.

5. a person or thing regarded as embodying or exhibiting some quality, idea, or the like.

   The leading dancer is the incarnation of grace.

6. the act of incarnating.

7. state of being incarnated.

Incarnation

¹

/ ˌɪnkɑːˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. Christian theol the assuming of a human body by the Son of God

2. Christianity the presence of God on Earth in the person of Jesus

incarnation

²

/ ˌɪnkɑːˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of manifesting or state of being manifested in bodily form, esp human form

2. a bodily form assumed by a god, etc

3. a person or thing that typifies or represents some quality, idea, etc

   the weasel is the incarnation of ferocity

Incarnation

1. The Christian belief that the Son, the second person of the Trinity, was incarnated, or made flesh, in the person of Jesus, in order to save the world from original sin (see also original sin).

Other Word Forms

• incarnational adjective
• postincarnation adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of incarnation¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English incarnacion, from Late Latin incarnātiōn-, stem of incarnātiō; equivalent to incarnate + -ion

Example Sentences

Portraits come in many incarnations—the rigorous realism of Holbein, the rococo elegance of Gainsborough, the harsh frankness of Lucian Freud, to name just a few.

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He had an earlier television incarnation as Bill Brand in the 1970s ITV series of the same name about a fictional firebrand Labour MP.

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The “special relationship” between the U.S. and U.K.—on television—means that Americans get to watch Keeley Hawes in multiple incarnations at the same time.

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The subprime mortgage market in its current incarnation never had done anything but rise.

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Concert hall the Mayan, which opened in 1927, closed after 35 years in its current incarnation.

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