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 ( def 4 ).
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. Bible (in the Vulgate and Douay versions of the Bible) the Book of Revelation

apocalypse

²

/ əˈpɒkəlɪps /

noun

1. a prophetic disclosure or revelation
2. an event of great importance, violence, etc, like the events described in the Apocalypse

Apocalypse

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

Notes

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

“Six and a half years in, and I got out to a zombie apocalypse,” she says.

From Popular-Science

The insect apocalypse has captured headlines, but the situation is more nuanced than that.

From Nautilus

Back in 2018, we first saw the Atlas robot performing “parkour” and the YouTube comment section was packed full of references to an impending apocalypse.

From Popular-Science

Then a mysterious global apocalypse occurs, prompting all his fellow scientists to evacuate.

From Ars Technica

Fears of a robot-driven jobs apocalypse are a recurring theme in the media.

From Singularity Hub 

Such is the strange and permanent apocalypse of 21st-century L.A.

From The Daily Beast

Conning people into buying a book to prepare for an "Ebola apocalypse" is not just irresponsible, it's pathetic.

From The Daily Beast

In retrospect, 2009 and 2010 were halcyon days in the Middle East, now that we seem just one horseman short of an apocalypse.

From The Daily Beast

If you were in the zombie apocalypse, would you be a hunter, the hunted, or Tyreese?

From The Daily Beast

All in all, a good week for learning that people you love aren't really dead and also holding off the apocalypse.

From The Daily Beast

The sun, pale in the midst of a strange sickly transparence, lighted up this outline of the Apocalypse.

From Project Gutenberg

It also possessed one of the earliest of the block-books, the Apocalypse.

From Project Gutenberg

But a clear and direct allusion to this last grouping of the constellations occurs in the Apocalypse.

From Project Gutenberg

And behold I saw, said the seer of the Apocalypse, as if it were a sea of glass mingled with fire.

From Project Gutenberg

This Ten-Weeks Apocalypse, therefore, we take to be the work of the writer of the rest of xci.-civ.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• annihilation
• cataclysm
• catastrophe
• devastation