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• annunciation
  annunciation

  noun

  the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of her conception of Christ.
• Annunciation
  Annunciation

  noun

  New Testament the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26–38)

annunciation

American  

[uh-nuhn-see-ay-shuhn] / əˌnʌn siˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

• annunciations
  plural

1. (often initial capital letter) the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of her conception of Christ.

2. (initial capital letter) a representation of this in art.

3. Also called Lady Day. (initial capital letter) the church festival on March 25 in memory of this.

4. an act or instance of announcing; proclamation.

   the annunciation of a new foreign policy.

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Annunciation British  

/ əˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃən /

noun

1. New Testament the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26–38)

2. Also called: Annunciation Day. the festival commemorating this, held on March 25 (Lady Day)

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Annunciation Cultural  

1. An announcement made by the angel Gabriel to Mary, the mother of Jesus, that she was going to bear a son, even though she was a virgin. Her son was to be called Jesus.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• annunciations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of annunciation

1350–1400; Middle English an ( n ) unciacio ( u ) n (< Anglo-French ) < Medieval Latin annūnciātiōn-, stem of annūnciātiō, for Late Latin adnūntiātiō; see annunciate, -ion

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

annunciation Annunciation annunciations

The opening credits — an assembly-line montage scored to the pounding first chords of the blues song “I’m a Man,” sung with new lyrics by Captain Beefheart — provide a brutal annunciation.

From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2021

To MacFarlane, this image could be "an annunciation scene from Giotto".

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2019

Such a very public naming of the dead, an annunciation of our universal mortality, would be an act of revelation in the Anglo-Saxon world.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 9, 2017

The grand words of annunciation with which Kushner’s play culminates—“Greetings Prophet; / The Great Work begins: / The Messenger has arrived”—are delivered by the Angel with conversational mildness.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 26, 2015

At the end of these recurrent dreams, they watched the grim-lipped officer and the chaplain move toward the unhinging annunciation at the front door.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Intricate sculptural groups depict the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the Adoration of the Magi and the shepherds, Herod’s massacre of the innocents, the flight into Egypt, Jesus preaching at the temple, and more.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Mr. Talarico seems to find additional scriptural support, as Mr. Swaim mentions, in the idea that “God asks for Mary’s consent” at the Annunciation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

These are the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi; Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives, the Crucifixion and the Lamentation; and, finally, the Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

The shooter had no known criminal history, and his connection to Annunciation is unknown.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2025

One particular subject which encouraged artists to explore the vanishing point was the Annunciation.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

The tradition’s canonical scenes — annunciations, resurrections, saintly transfigurations — are unavoidably miraculous, no matter how they’re rendered.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022

In Colvin she is made to deliver her labored annunciations in service of playing a working-class girl motivated to take down venal big-city bosses because they essentially ruined her father’s life.

From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2011

In all "Holy Writ" we find accounts of "ascensions," "translations," "annunciations," and mortals caught up into the clouds.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 12 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists by Elbert Hubbard

Her press then teemed with atrocious falsehoods, insulting threats, and exulting annunciations of our downfall.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various

These sections include the annunciations, the birth, infancy, and childhood of both John and Jesus.

From A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ Based on the Broadus Harmony in the Revised Version by Archibald Thomas Robertson