apocalypse

CEFRC1

/əˈpɒkəlɪps/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A disastrous event causing widespread destruction or the end of the world.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A huge disaster; a cataclysmic event; destruction or ruin of large scope and scale.

Examples

  • What would you do in the event of a zombie apocalypse?

  • The zombie apocalypse is nigh!

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings
  1. The unveiling of events prophesied in the Revelation; the second coming and the end of life on Earth; global destruction.

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

  3. The Book of Revelation.

More examples

In context
  • A nuclear apocalypse would have been possible if tensions went out of control during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

  • The early development of Perl 6 was punctuated by a series of apocalypses by Larry Wall.

  • Near-synonyms: cataclysm, catastrophe, holocaust; armageddon, doomsday, end times, eschaton, judgement day, judgment day

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

Survivors of the blank searched for food among the ruined cities.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”).