apocalypse

[uh-pok-uh-lips]

noun

1. 1. a prophecy or revelation, especially regarding a final cataclysmic battle between good and evil.

   2. the apocalypse, in some belief systems, a final cataclysmic battle of this kind, in which evil is defeated and the present age brought to a close.

      According to traditional evangelical teaching, the apocalypse will begin with a time of persecution.

   3. the apocalypse, the end of civilization; the complete destruction or collapse of the world as we know it (sometimes used facetiously).

      On both ends of the political spectrum, visions of the apocalypse and predictions of doom abound.

      We thought this recession might be the apocalypse, and sales would go down to 1 percent.

2. any universal or widespread destruction or disaster.

   If humanity is to avoid a nuclear apocalypse, a whole new level of international cooperation is urgently required.

3. Apocalypse. Revelation.

4. any piece of literature belonging to a genre of Jewish or Christian writings that appeared from about 200 b.c. to the late Middle Ages and were assumed to reveal God’s ultimate purpose.

apocalypse

¹

/ əˈpɒkəlɪps /

noun

1. a prophetic disclosure or revelation

2. an event of great importance, violence, etc, like the events described in the Apocalypse

Apocalypse

²

/ əˈpɒkəlɪps /

noun

1. Bible (in the Vulgate and Douay versions of the Bible) the Book of Revelation

Apocalypse

1. Another name for the New Testament Book of Revelation; from the Greek word for “revelation.”

An “apocalypse” is a final catastrophe.

The Apocalypse is supposed to come at the end of the world or of time.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Apocalypse¹

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Late Latin apocalypsis, from Greek apokálypsis “revelation,” from apokalýp(tein) “to uncover, reveal” (from apo- apo- + kalýptein “to cover, conceal”; eucalyptus ) + -sis -sis

Word History and Origins

Origin of Apocalypse¹

C13: from Late Latin apocalypsis, from Greek apokalupsis, from apokaluptein to disclose, from _apo- + kaluptein to hide

Example Sentences

With the devastating prospect of a labor apocalypse threatening baseball’s future, the Milwaukee Brewers have emerged as a major-league Rorschach test.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

And then there are those super-rich with their own apocalypse insurance plans.

Read more on BBC

American critic Susan Sontag crowned Krasznahorkai the "master of the apocalypse" after having read his second book "The Melancholy of Resistance" in 1989, the Academy said.

Read more on Barron's

Plastic food containers and trays are stacked and wired with lights, feeling at once like retro-futuristic inventions and something cobbled together after the apocalypse.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As the apocalypse begins, the Hallorans hold a farewell party and invite the nearby villagers.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• annihilation 
• cataclysm 
• catastrophe 
• devastation