apocalypse
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: Christianity
Etymology: 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
Ancient Greek -τις (-tis)
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: apocalypses
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A revealing, especially a prophecy of, or the unfolding of, supernatural events.
pos: noun
examples: The early development of Perl 6 was punctuated by a series of apocalypses by Larry Wall.
gloss: A huge disaster; a cataclysmic event; destruction or ruin of large scope and scale.
pos: noun
examples: Near-synonyms: cataclysm, catastrophe, holocaust; armageddon, doomsday, end times, eschaton, judgement day, judgment day
A nuclear apocalypse would have been possible if tensions went out of control during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Man has forgotten the soul and thus doomed his civilization to apocalypse.
The Spanish mission in America soon became not so much crusade as apocalypse.
In 2016, President Barack Obama told his staff that Donald Trump’s election victory was “not the apocalypse”. By any definition, he was correct. But understood in the original sense of the Greek word apokálypsis, meaning “unveiling”, Obama could not give the same reassurance in 2025.
gloss: The unveiling of events prophesied in the Revelation; the second coming and the end of life on Earth; global destruction.
pos: noun
examples: Meronyms: Final Judgment, Judgment Day, judgement day, judgment day
Near-synonym: Ragnarok
gloss: The Book of Revelation.
pos: noun
Derived words: AIpocalypse
apocalyptic
apocalypticism
Brexocalypse
eco-apocalypse
jobpocalypse
postapocalypse
post-apocalypse
replyallpocalypse
retail apocalypse
snowpocalypse
Twitpocalypse
zombocalypse
Zombocalypse
Translations:
lang: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
word: ܓܸܠܝܵܢܵܐ
roman: gilyana
lang: Belarusian
word: апака́ліпсіс
roman: apakálipsis
lang: Belarusian
word: адкрыццё
roman: adkryccjó
lang: Bulgarian
word: апокали́псис
roman: apokalípsis
lang: Bulgarian
word: открове́ние
roman: otkrovénie
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 啟示 /启示
roman: qǐshì
lang: Czech
word: apokalypsa
lang: Czech
word: zjevení
lang: Danish
word: apokalypse
lang: Danish
word: åbenbaring
lang: Estonian
word: ilmutus
lang: Finnish
word: ilmestys
lang: French
word: apocalypse
lang: Galician
word: apocalipse
lang: German
word: Apokalypse
lang: Greek
word: αποκάλυψη
roman: apokálypsi
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ἀποκάλυψις
roman: apokálupsis
lang: Hindi
word: कश्फ
roman: kaśph
lang: Hindi
word: कश्फ़
roman: kaśf
lang: Hungarian
word: apokalipszis
lang: Indonesian
word: wahyu
lang: Japanese
word: 黙示
lang: Korean
word: 묵시
roman: muksi
lang: Latin
word: apocalypsis
lang: Macedonian
word: откровение
roman: otkrovenie
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: apokalypse
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: apokalypse
lang: Polish
word: apokalipsa
lang: Polish
word: objawienie
lang: Portuguese
word: apocalipse
lang: Romanian
word: apocalipsă
lang: Russian
word: апока́липсис
roman: apokálipsis
lang: Russian
word: открове́ние
roman: otkrovénije
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: апокалѝпса
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: открове́ње
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: о̏бјава
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: apokalìpsa
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: otkrovénje
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ȍbjava
lang: Slovak
word: apokalypsa
lang: Slovak
word: zjavenie
lang: Slovene
word: apokalipsa
lang: Slovene
word: razodetje
lang: Slovene
word: odkritje
lang: Tagalog
word: hulawat
lang: Ukrainian
word: апока́ліпсис
roman: apokálipsys
lang: Ukrainian
word: відкриття́
roman: vidkryttjá
lang: Ukrainian
word: одкрове́ння
roman: odkrovénnja
lang: Urdu
word: کَشْف
roman: kašf