(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
At Annunciation House, El Paso’s primary migrant shelter, beds now hold detainees released from Camp East Montana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 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
Early in 2024, Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general and megachurch founder, demanded the surrender of documents from Annunciation House, a Catholic charity that provides shelter and meals to refugees on the U.S.-Mexico border.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 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
On the door-posts, the telegraph-poles, the pillars of verandas, the lamps,—over the government letter-boxes,—everywhere glimmered the white annunciations of death.
From Chita: a Memory of Last Island by Hearn, Lafcadio
These annunciations speedily became the magnet of the day.
From St. Ronan's Well by Scott, Walter, Sir
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 Hubbard, Elbert
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.
