Armageddon
Americannoun
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Armageddons
plural
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(in the Bible) the place where a final battle will be fought between the forces of good and evil: probably so called in reference to the battlefield of Megiddo.
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the last and completely destructive battle.
The arms race can lead to Armageddon.
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any great and crucial conflict.
noun
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New Testament the final battle at the end of the world between the forces of good and evil, God against the kings of the earth (Revelation 16:16)
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a catastrophic and extremely destructive conflict, esp World War I viewed as this
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Figuratively, “Armageddon” is any great battle or destructive confrontation.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Armageddon
First recorded in 1580–90; Middle English Hermagedon, Old English Ermagedon, from Late Latin Hermagedōn, Armagedōn, from Greek Harmagedṓn, from Hebrew har măgiddō (măgiddōn) “mountain of Megiddo”; see Megiddo ( def. )
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:
I recently rewatched Armageddon, complete with Bruce Willis, oil drillers sent into space, and an asteroid the size of Texas racing toward Earth.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
Meek, a 10-year-old Black girl, is grappling with her fears of nuclear Armageddon as more prosaic domestic concerns kick into high gear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The Armageddon of employment is probably overstated in terms of speed.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
The press is warning of nuclear Armageddon after an arms-control treaty between Russia and the United States expired this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
“You may as well wait for Armageddon as that.”
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
Musk, in particular, talks of war, pandemics, rebel AIs and asteroid Armageddons all making it vital for humans to become a multiplanetary species.
From The Guardian ● May 18, 2019
These are extreme cases, perhaps—barring Armageddons, you might expect people to know what they are called.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 3, 2015
When we’re this close to two Armageddons, what does all the “grand bargain” talk mean?
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2011
They are full of rage, melancholy and regret for fates that get mixed up and mangled in the course of everyday Armageddons.
From Time Magazine Archive
There has not been a presidential contest since Jackson's day without its Armageddons, its marching of Christian soldiers, its crosses of gold, its crowns of thorns.
From A Book of Prefaces by H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
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.
