apotheosis
Americannoun
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the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god.
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the ideal example; epitome; quintessence.
This poem is the apotheosis of lyric expression.
noun
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the elevation of a person to the rank of a god; deification
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glorification of a person or thing
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a glorified ideal
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the best or greatest time or event
the apotheosis of De Niro's career
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apotheosis
Explanation
If your teacher says the term paper you handed in last week is a work of genius that sets a new gold standard for the school, he's telling you your work is the apotheosis of term papers. The epitome. Perfection. Hidden in the middle of apotheosis you'll find the Greek theos, meaning god. (Theology, the study of religion, has the same root.) Combine theos with apo "from" and you get a person, place, or thing that is so out-of-this-world amazing that it seems as if it's "from God." It's divine. You could make the assertion that Leonardo da Vinci was the apotheosis of genius and that the Mona Lisa is the apotheosis of all his paintings.
Vocabulary lists containing apotheosis
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Hidden Figures
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But she later enjoyed an apotheosis as the matriarch of the largest empire the world had ever seen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
This revisionist history reached its apotheosis with a 2007 essay collection edited by the historians Kenneth T. Jackson and Hilary Ballon.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2024
Sunset Sound represents the apotheosis of the recording industry’s heyday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
For Johnson to now be speaker of the House feels as if it is the apotheosis of his political career and aspirations.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2023
After several rounds of refinement in the Langley wind tunnels, the Mustang achieved its apotheosis with the P-51D.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
And the things it forgets, the apotheoses and apocalypses it lets sift through its mesh!
From The Guardian ● Oct. 15, 2016
They are their own apotheoses, their own parodies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some have filled their skies with beings as little aerial as possible, or apotheoses of the Virgin and sundry saints.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 341, November 15, 1828 by Various
Where are the ovations and the apotheoses, the carriages of gold and crystal, the solemn entries into the city in its gala dress, to the sound of bells and trumpets?
From Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty by Imbert de Saint-Amand, Arthur Léon, baron
After the apotheoses of these heroes, the Grecian sailors invoked these fires by the names of Castor and Pollux, or the sons of Jupiter.
From The Lusiad or The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem by Camões, Luís de
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.
