Antichrist

[ an-ti-krahyst ]

noun

, Theology.

1. a particular personage or power, variously identified or explained, who is conceived of as appearing in the world as the principal antagonist of Christ.
2. (sometimes lowercase) an opponent of Christ; a person or power antagonistic to Christ.
3. (often lowercase) a disbeliever in Christ.
4. (often lowercase) a false Christ.

Antichrist

/ ˈæntɪˌkraɪst /

noun

1. New Testament the antagonist of Christ, expected by early Christians to appear and reign over the world until overthrown at Christ's Second Coming
2. sometimes not capital an enemy of Christ or Christianity

Antichrist

1. A person mentioned in the New Testament as an enemy of Jesus , who will appear before the Second Coming and win over many of Jesus' followers. The Antichrist is often identified with a beast described in the Book of Revelation , whom God destroys just before the final defeat of Satan .

Notes

Since the New Testament was written, people have frequently tried to prove that an individual human being was the Antichrist. Some of the candidates have been the Roman emperors Nero and Caligula and the modern dictators Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin .

Derived Forms

• ˌAntiˈchristian, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Antichrist¹

before 1150; Middle English, Old English < Late Latin Antichrīstus < Late Greek Antíchrīstos the Antichrist. See anti-, Christ

Example Sentences

One prominent Wingnut Web site in particular has been pumping up microchip/Antichrist anxieties: WorldNet Daily.

From The Daily Beast

The McCain campaign even put out a Web ad that seemed to play on Obama-as-Antichrist fears.

From The Daily Beast

Its worldly affairs gave him no concern, and party-spirit was loathsome to him as the very antichrist.

From Project Gutenberg

It is well to state here that Daniel mentions Antichrist but once in his prophecies, in chapter xi:36, etc.

From Project Gutenberg

See the pictures in the numerous fifteenth century little popular books concerning Antichrist.

From Project Gutenberg

"And then shall the wicked be revealed:" no one doubts that this means Antichrist.

From Project Gutenberg

These remonstrants drifted by degrees into open antagonists of the Church, and talked of the Pope as the mystical antichrist.

From Project Gutenberg