epiphany
Syllables: epi·pha·nyUK/ɪˈpɪfəni/
epiphany noun: an illuminating realization or discovery, often resulting in a personal feeling of elation, awe, or wonder. Also the alternative letter-case form of Epiphany.
Noun (1)
epiphany (countable and uncountable, plural epiphanies)
- An illuminating realization or discovery, often resulting in a personal feeling of elation, awe, or wonder.
- It came to her in an epiphany what her life's work was to be.
- Instead of examining institutions and classes, structures of economic production and social control, one had to think about “moments”—moments of love, hate, poetry, frustration, action, surrender, delight, humiliation, justice, cruelty, resignation, surprise, disgust, resentment, self-loathing...1989, Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009
- Synonyms:
- aha moment, enlightenment, eureka moment, nirvana, satori
- A manifestation or appearance of a divine or superhuman being.
- The ithyphallic bird-man is the climactic, ecstatic, instantaneous male principle confronting the enormous, slow, bovine, and enduring principle of the eternal feminine in her epiphany as the bison.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 129
- Synonyms:
- theophany
Noun (2) capitalized: Epiphany
Epiphany (countable and uncountable, plural Epiphanies)
- A manifestation of the divinity of Jesus Christ, especially to the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12), but also at his baptism and the Wedding at Cana.
- That was also the reason why the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the three epiphanies of Christ's divinity, His Baptism, the Miracle of Cana, and the Visit of the Magi, was one of the most favorite feasts in the Eastern Church[…]1998, Maurice B. McNamee, Vested Angels: Eucharistic Allusions in Early Netherlandish Paintings, Peeters Publishers, →ISBN, page 167
- An annual Christian feast celebrating these events, usually on January 6, the twelfth day after Christmas.
- On the Festival of the Epiphany, and on the six Sundays called after its name, we have distinct pictures held up to our view connected with the life of Jesus of Nazareth[…]1878, Haskett Smith, The divine Epiphany, page 9
- That was also the reason why the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the three epiphanies of Christ's divinity, His Baptism, the Miracle of Cana, and the Visit of the Magi, was one of the most favorite feasts in the Eastern Church[…]1998, Maurice B. McNamee, Vested Angels: Eucharistic Allusions in Early Netherlandish Paintings, Peeters Publishers, →ISBN, page 167
- Synonyms:
- Three Kings' Day, Twelfth Day, Twelfthtide, Twelvetide, Theophany
- The day of the celebration, January 6, or sometimes (in Western Christianity), the Sunday between January 2 and 8.
- The season or time of the Christian church year, either from the Epiphany feast day to Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent), or from the Epiphany feast day to the feast of Candlemas (marking the presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple in Jerusalem).
- an experience of sudden and striking insight
Proper noun capitalized: Epiphany
Epiphany
- A female given name.
Also used as
epiphany is also the alternative letter-case form of Epiphany.
epiphany meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
epiphany in Tamil
- எபிஃபானி, எபிஃபனி, எபிஃபேனி
epiphany in Marathi
- एपिफेनी, एपिफनी, एपिफॅनी
epiphany in Urdu
- ایپیفینی, ایپیفنی, ایپی فینی
epiphany in Bengali
- এপিফেনি, এপিফ্যানি, এপিফানি
More languagesFewer languages
- epiphany in Telugu
- ఎపిఫనీ, ఎపిఫేనీ, ఎపిఫానీ
- epiphany in Malayalam
- എപിഫാനി, എപ്പിഫാനി, എപിഫണി
- epiphany in Kannada
- ಎಪಿಫಾನಿ, ಎಪಿಫೇನಿ, ಎಪಿಫ್ಯಾನಿ
- epiphany in Punjabi
- ਐਪੀਫੈਨੀ, ਐਪੀਫਨੀ, ਐਪੀਫੇਨੀ
- epiphany in Gujarati
- એપિફેની, એપીફેની, એપિફની
- epiphany in Odia
- ଏପିଫାନି, ଏପିଫେନି, ଏପିଫନି
- epiphany in Nepali
- एपिफेनी, एपिफनी, इपिफेनी
- epiphany in Arabic
- تَجَلٍّ tajallin
Examples of epiphany in a sentence
- But after spending most of my pocket money to get those developed, I had an epiphany: I was never going to be a professional photographer.2013, Chris Hadfield, chapter 11, in An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN:
- Between the gaps, I was swimming laps / Got close to some epiphany / I'll convince a friend to join deep ends / Have your toes touch the lack of cement2021, “Amoeba”, performed by Clairo:
- The logic of the standard biography—a formative event leads to an epiphany that creates the great man—doesn’t quite work when the greatness doesn’t have much to do with the man at all.2023 May 9, Jay Caspian Kang, “Tony Hsieh and the Emptiness of the Tech-Mogul Myth”, in The New Yorker:
Synonyms of epiphany
Forms of epiphany
| plural | epiphanies |
|---|---|
| plural | Epiphanies |
Origin of epiphany
From Middle English epiphanie, from Old French epyphanie, from Late Latin epiphania, from Ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia, “manifestation, striking appearance”), from ἐπιφαίνω (epiphaínō, “I appear, display”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I shine, appear”). English Epiphany (of Christ) since the 14th century, generic use since the 17th century.
PIE word *h₁epi See epiphany.
Words formed from epiphany
- Epiphanytide
- epiphanal
- epiphanette
- epiphanic
- epiphanous
- epiphany cake
- epiphanylike
- sleepiphany
Phrases with epiphany
Questions about epiphany
- What does epiphany mean?
- Epiphany means an illuminating realization or discovery, often resulting in a personal feeling of elation, awe, or wonder.
- What is epiphany in Tamil?
- Epiphany in Tamil is எபிஃபானி, எபிஃபனி, எபிஃபேனி. See Epiphany meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use epiphany in a sentence?
- But after spending most of my pocket money to get those developed, I had an epiphany: I was never going to be a professional photographer.
- What part of speech is epiphany?
- Epiphany can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce epiphany?
- Epiphany is pronounced /ɪˈpɪfəni/ (UK).
- What is the plural of epiphany?
- The plural of epiphany is epiphanies.
Words near epiphany in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: epiphany (page history and authors); Epiphany (page history and authors); epiphany (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); epiphany (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-epiphany.ogg, en-au-epiphany.ogg.
Cite this entry: “epiphany.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/epiphany. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.