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apocalypse.

A revealing, especially a prophecy of, or the unfolding of, supernatural events.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈpɒkəlɪps/UK/əˈpɑkəlɪps/US
  1. A revealing, especially a prophecy of, or the unfolding of, supernatural events.

    The early development of Perl 6 was punctuated by a series of apocalypses by Larry Wall.
  2. A huge disaster; a cataclysmic event; destruction or ruin of large scope and scale.

    A nuclear apocalypse would have been possible if tensions went out of control during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
  3. The unveiling of events prophesied in the Revelation; the second coming and the end of life on Earth; global destruction.

  4. The Book of Revelation.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Hellenic *apó Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό (ăpó) Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-) Ancient Greek καλύπτω (kalúptō) Ancient Greek ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Hellenic *-tis Ancient Greek -τῐς (-tĭs) Ancient Greek -σις (-sis) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ποκᾰ́λῠψῐς (ăpokắlŭpsĭs)der. Latin apocalypsisbor. Middle English apocalips English apocalypse From Middle English apocalips, from Latin apocalypsis, from Ancient Greek ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis, “revelation”, literally “uncovering”), from ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō, “to reveal”), from ἀπό (apó, “back, away from”) + καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”), + -σις (-sis, suffix forming nouns). The sense evolution to "catastrophe, end of the world" stems from the depiction of such events in the biblical Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse of (i.e. Revelation to) John. The verb is from the noun and, in sense 1, a semantic loan from the etymonic Ancient Greek verb ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō, “to reveal”).

verb/əˈpɒkəlɪps/UK/əˈpɑkəlɪps/US
  1. To reveal.

    transitive · uncommon
  2. To dwell on a huge disaster one expects to take place.

    informal · intransitive · rare
  3. To bring about (a huge disaster).

    ambitransitive · informal · rare
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Hellenic *apó Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό (ăpó) Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-) Ancient Greek καλύπτω (kalúptō) Ancient Greek ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Hellenic *-tis Ancient Greek -τῐς (-tĭs) Ancient Greek -σις (-sis) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ποκᾰ́λῠψῐς (ăpokắlŭpsĭs)der. Latin apocalypsisbor. Middle English apocalips English apocalypse From Middle English apocalips, from Latin apocalypsis, from Ancient Greek ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis, “revelation”, literally “uncovering”), from ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō, “to reveal”), from ἀπό (apó, “back, away from”) + καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”), + -σις (-sis, suffix forming nouns). The sense evolution to "catastrophe, end of the world" stems from the depiction of such events in the biblical Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse of (i.e. Revelation to) John. The verb is from the noun and, in sense 1, a semantic loan from the etymonic Ancient Greek verb ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalúptō, “to reveal”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.