apocalypse

noun

apoc·​a·​lypse ə-ˈpä-kə-ˌlips 

plural apocalypses

1

a

: one of the Jewish and Christian writings of 200 b.c. to a.d. 150 marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom

b

capitalized : revelation sense 3

2

a

: something viewed as a prophetic revelation

b

: armageddon

3

a

: a large, disastrous fire : inferno

Most foresters agree that small, "prescribed" burns, carefully controlled, are essential to prevent the larger apocalypse.

—Lance Morrow

b

: a great disaster

an environmental apocalypse

Synonyms

• calamity
• cataclysm
• catastrophe
• debacle
• débâcle
• disaster
• tragedy

Examples of apocalypse in a Sentence

His book tells of an environmental apocalypse.

the fear that the next global pandemic could be an apocalypse of biblical proportions

Recent Examples on the Web

Didn’t Die / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Meera Menon, Screenwriter and Producer: Paul Gleason, Producers: Erica Fishman, Joe Camerota, Luke Patton) –– A podcast host desperately clings to an ever-shrinking audience in the zombie apocalypse. —Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 24 Jan. 2025

Related Articles Though no retail apocalypse was proclaimed, Coresights foresights cast a glass-half-empty view of the near future for retail square footage. —David Moin, WWD, 23 Jan. 2025

Set in Nebraska 10 years after the zombie apocalypse, the series chronicles the lives of teenagers who are the first generation to come of age in a post-apocalyptic era. —Skyler Caruso, People.com, 16 Jan. 2025

But the Oakland Hills Fire, sparked 33 years before the Keller Fire, remains the Bay Area’s apocalypse — which newly sworn in Congresswoman Lateefah Simon remembers as a 9th-grader living in San Francisco when the smoke drifted across the bay and her Oakland cousins ran from the flames. —Julia Prodis Sulek, The Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English Apocalipse "Revelation (the New Testament book)," borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Late Latin apocalypsis "revelation, the Book of Revelation," borrowed from Greek apokálypsis "uncovering, disclosure, revelation," from apokalyp-, stem of apokalýptein "to uncover, disclose, reveal" (from apo- apo- + kalýptein "to cover, protect, conceal," of uncertain origin) + -sis -sis

Note: Greek kalýptein is associated in older handbooks with Indo-European *ḱel- "conceal" (see conceal), though neither the vocalism nor the supposed extension *-up- are easily explicable.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing apocalypse

• the apocalypse

Kids Definition

apocalypse

1 of 2 noun

apoc·​a·​lypse

ə-ˈpä-kə-ˌlips

1

: something thought of as a prophetic revelation

2

a

: the place or time of the final battle between good and evil

b

: a decisive battle

3

: a great disaster

apocalyptic

ə-ˌpä-kə-ˈlip-tik

adjective

Apocalypse

2 of 2 noun

: one of the Jewish and Christian writings of 200 b.c. to a.d. 150 by an author writing under a pseudonym that is marked by symbolic imagery and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a heavenly kingdom see bible