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View synonyms for epoch

epoch

[ ep-uhkor, especially British, ee-pok ]

noun

  1. a particular period of time marked by distinctive features, events, etc.:

    The treaty ushered in an epoch of peace and good will.

    Synonyms: time, era, date, age

  2. the beginning of a distinctive period in the history of anything:

    The splitting of the atom marked an epoch in scientific discovery.

  3. a point of time distinguished by a particular event or state of affairs; a memorable date:

    His coming of age was an epoch in his life.

  4. Geology. any of several divisions of a geologic period during which a geologic series is formed. Compare age ( def 12 ).
  5. Astronomy.
    1. an arbitrarily fixed instant of time or date, usually the beginning of a century or half century, used as a reference in giving the elements of a planetary orbit or the like.
    2. the mean longitude of a planet as seen from the sun at such an instant or date.
  6. Physics. the displacement from zero at zero time of a body undergoing simple harmonic motion.


epoch

/ ˈɛpˌɒkəl; ˈiːpɒk /

noun

  1. a point in time beginning a new or distinctive period

    the invention of nuclear weapons marked an epoch in the history of warfare

  2. a long period of time marked by some predominant or typical characteristic; era
  3. astronomy a precise date to which information, such as coordinates, relating to a celestial body is referred
  4. geology a unit of geological time within a period during which a series of rocks is formed

    the Pleistocene epoch

  5. physics the displacement of an oscillating or vibrating body at zero time


epoch

/ ĕpək,ēpŏk′ /

  1. The shortest division of geologic time . An epoch is a subdivision of a period.


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Derived Forms

  • epochal, adjective
  • ˈepˌochally, adverb

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Other Words From

  • sub·epoch noun
  • super·epoch noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of epoch1

First recorded in 1605–15; from New Latin epocha, from Greek epochḗ “pause, check, fixed time,” from ep- ep- + och- (variant stem of échein “to have, hold, keep”) + -ē, noun suffix

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Word History and Origins

Origin of epoch1

C17: from New Latin epocha, from Greek epokhē cessation; related to ekhein to hold, have

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Synonym Study

See age.

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Example Sentences

My mother was born on VE Day, her bones still untainted by the nuclear bombs that would come a few months later, ushering in a new epoch.

These days, his legacy can be seen in the work of artists such as Chloe Wise and Beth Salvini, who now hold the torch as some of our epoch’s most important fake food sculpturesses.

From Eater

A central feature of cosmology, as we commonly understand it, is an epoch known as inflation, thought to have taken place in the first fractions of a second after the Planck epoch, itself a mysterious regime.

During this epoch, the balloon deflates modestly, but the real work is done by a drastically shrinking horizon.

During the Pleistocene epoch, which ended about 11,700 years ago, Milankovitch cycles sent the planet in and out of ice ages.

At the same time, it is the hallmark of brilliant people whatever their civilization, epoch, or area of expertise.

As I said, Balzac wrote about an epoch that is curiously like our own.

From time to time the state would crack down, most spectacularly during the fascist epoch.

Eulogizing Vidal was to eulogize the now long-gone epoch he typified.

Prague Fatale is authentic because Kerr can muffle the horror of this epoch in dramatic irony but he can also shout it out loud.

So it came to pass that another change came into his life, hence another epoch in the unusual life was his.

Science teaches that man existed during the glacial epoch, which was at least fifty thousand years before the Christian era.

This epoch-making invention, introduced in 1832, rendered possible extraordinary developments.

Such are the characteristics, says this enthusiastic admirer of these productions of Steiner's third or last epoch.

Under such auspices dawned the year 1861, destined to inaugurate a new epoch in the life of Tchaikovsky.

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EPOepochal