(often initial capital letter) the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of her conception of Christ.
(initial capital letter) a representation of this in art.
Also called Lady Day. (initial capital letter) the church festival on March 25 in memory of this.
an act or instance of announcing; proclamation.
the annunciation of a new foreign policy.
New Testament the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26–38)
Also called: Annunciation Day. the festival commemorating this, held on March 25 (Lady Day)
1350–1400; Middle English an ( n ) unciacio ( u ) n (< Anglo-French ) < Medieval Latin annūnciātiōn-, stem of annūnciātiō, for Late Latin adnūntiātiō; see annunciate, -ion
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Like an angel of the annunciation, Mother Ermentrude spreads her arms and folds her hands over my head.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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
With better known themes, such as the Annunciation of the Virgin, thoughtful curation allows viewers to discern the subtle pictorial choices that Fra Angelico made.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
“There is a real and credible concern that the attempt to prevent Annunciation House from conducting business in Texas was predetermined,” the judge wrote in his order.
From Salon ● May 30, 2024
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
It was not until thirty years after that it attained its full development in the annunciations of sectionists rather than statesmen.
From The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government by Davis, Jefferson
It professes to bring annunciations from Heaven of man's immortality.'
From Zenobia or, the Fall of Palmyra by Ware, William
Jeremiah was set at liberty, and continued his earnest expostulations with the people on account of their sins, and his terrible annunciations of the impending ruin of the city just as before.
From Cyrus the Great Makers of History by Abbott, Jacob
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
