Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use apocalyptic in a sentence

27 example sentences · adjective, noun

Apocalyptic means revelatory; prophetic. Example: “From beginning to end, and throughout, the Gospel makes such frequent use of apocalyptic motifs and the apocalyptic viewpoint that it deserves to be called the apocalyptic Gospel."”

Examples of apocalyptic by meaning

adjectiveRevelatory; prophetic.

  • From beginning to end, and throughout, the Gospel makes such frequent use of apocalyptic motifs and the apocalyptic viewpoint that it deserves to be called the apocalyptic Gospel."1985, Donald A. Hagner, Apocalyptic Motifs in the Gospel of Matthew: Continuity and Discontinuity, page 92
  • This was because apocalyptic stories — from the Greek word apohalupsis which means "reveal" — uses the vocabulary of symbols and numbers and contains concealed messages that secular listeners cannot comprehend.2002, Peter W. Smith, In the Day of the Lord: The Exciting and Promised Fulfillment, page 7
  • “It’s true that as I walk out of my house in a nice quiet street and go to a nice cafe five minutes’ walk away, I have no reason to have these apocalyptic musings.”2019 November 3, Andrew Anthony, quoting David Mitchell, “David Mitchell: ‘I have no reason to have these apocalyptic musings’”, in The...

adjectiveCatastrophic; disastrous.

  • For the first time since the show began, a sense of utter loneliness overwhelmed me, a bitter despair at the uselessness of individual effort in this gigantic tragedy of apocalyptic destruction.1919, Arthur Hamilton Gibbs, Gun Fodder: The Diary of Four Years of War, Little, Brown, page 276
  • In fact, interpreters commonly declare that Mark is an "apocalyptic" Gospel.2001, Richard A. Horsley, Hearing the Whole Story: The Politics of Plot in Mark's Gospel, page 122
  • These bookends house a wealth of apocalyptic stories.2010, Philip Leroy Culbertson, Elaine Mary Wainwright, Bible in Popular Culture, page 184

adjectivePortending a future apocalypse (disaster, devastation, or doom).

  • Submissions on the part of gay teachers and students and organizations were countered by apocalyptic denunciations on the part of Bible-toting mothers and fathers expertly organized by the right.1981 February 14, Alexander Wilson, “The New Right Attacks Childhood Sexuality: A Canadian Perspective”, in Gay Community News, volume 8...
  • Shortly after the publication of When Prophecy Fails, Hardyck and Braden (1962) investigated an apocalyptic group of Pentecostals to see if the failed apocalypse would result in enduring conviction and proselytization, but it did not.2025 October 13, Thomas Kelly, “Debunking “When Prophecy Fails””, in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

More sentences with apocalyptic

  • In the pall of this apocalyptic destruction, the U.S. fleet takes stock.2021 May 5, Drachinifel, 42:53 from the start, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?, archived from the original on 19 Aug 2022. From the entry pall
  • Peoples Temple and the Branch Davidians both approximated the 'apocalyptic sect' as an ideal type.1995, Stuart A. Wright, Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict, University Of Chicago Press, →ISBN…. From the entry sect
  • Early Christian theology created a fusion of Platonic dualism and apocalyptic Judaism.1986, David L[yle] Shields, “Dualism and the Church”, in Growing Beyond Prejudices: Overcoming Hierarchical Dualism, Mystic, Conn.…. From the entry sacramentality
  • If conservatives are pessimistic, reactionaries are apocalyptic.2017 April, Andrew Sullivan, “The Reactionary Temptation”, in New York Magazine, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2020. From the entry reactionary
  • It spoke of the "ill-advised attempts" to substitute Goldwaterism for Republicanism and presented an apocalyptic vision of the senator's positions.2015, Lee Edwards, Goldwater: The Man Who Made a Revolution. From the entry Goldwaterism
  • It is a known fact that Bolshevism has unmistakable characteristics of apocalyptic chiliasm, albeit misinterpreted in a physical, earthly way.2008, Detlef Garbe, Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich, page 49. From the entry chiliasm
  • ALCHEMY OF DECAY AND RUINISM The post-communist prophets hone their sharp ironies, herald the coming of doomsday, draw apocalyptic visions.1995, Vladislav Todorov, Red Square, Black Square: Organon for Revolutionary Imagination, page 182. From the entry ruinism
  • Many say that an apocalyptic mud flood buried its great buildings; some suggest the use of high-tech weaponry to tactically remove Tartarian infrastructure.2021, Zach Mortice, Bloomberg. From the entry mud flood
  • The climate emergency is perceived to be “an apocalyptic faith” (C1), a new “eco-religion” unnecessarily catastrophist, namely “ecologism” (A4; B4; C4; D1,2; F7,10,11; G3,4; H1).2020 spring, Lise Benoist, “Green is the new brown – Ecology in the metapolitics of the French far right today”, master’s thesis. From the entry Thunbergian
  • Peakism has been called a sort of Left Behind for liberals, and apocalyptic sects are known, after all, for proving remarkably resilient.2015 November 4, Scott McLemee, “Past Its Peak”, in Inside Higher Ed. From the entry peakism
  • I have already suggested that rhetology is dominant in some forms of discourse when compared with others, for example, apocalyptic compared with wisdom.2012, Duane F. Watson, Miracle Discourse in the New Testament, →ISBN, page 101. From the entry rhetology
  • Auge's designation of the nonplace is neither prescriptive nor apocalyptic, realizing that the differential relation between place and nonplace is never absolute.2000, Erika Suderburg, Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art, U of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 205. From the entry nonplace
  • Conspiracists convinced of an impending apocalyptic battle will begin “preparing for TEOTWAWKI, because they appear to have a deep-seated, almost nihilistic wish for everything just to end.”2019, Thomas Milan Konda, Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 323. From the entry TEOTWAWKI
  • In fashwave, as in all fascist art (yes, that’s what the “fash” part stands for), the far right’s insecurities and apocalyptic death wish are chiefly on display.2018 January 13, Jack Smith IV, “This is fashwave, the suicidal retro-futurist art of the alt-right”, in Mic, archived from the original…. From the entry fashwave
  • It was the struggle between the state and secret groups of insurgents, state-born, wild-eyed—the anarchists, terrorists, assassins and revolutionaries who tried to bring about apocalyptic change.1997, Don DeLillo, part 5, chapter 4, in Underworld, part 5, New York: Scribner. From the entry undervoice
  • How many hundreds of millions of dollars have been sunk into Strangelovian bunkers, how many tens of thousands of hours invested in preparing for that apocalyptic vision?1994, Mother Jones Magazine (volume 19, number 1, Jan-Feb 1994). From the entry Strangelovian
  • The apocalyptic theology of the Jehovah's Witnesses is not as popular today as other fundamentalist beliefs, but their founding and history are typical of other neotraditionalist sects.1988 March 25, Dan Liberty, “Saying NO to Fundamentalism”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry neotraditionalist
  • Pseudepigraphy was sometimes regarded as a literary lie, a forgery, which enabled the apocalyptic writers to acquire authority for their writings by using a borrowed identity.1988, Ithamar Gruenwald, From Apocalypticism to Gnosticism: Studies in Apocalypticism, Merkavah Mysticism and Gnosticism, Peter Lang, page…. From the entry pseudepigraphy
  • The apocalyptic writings are at times quite fascinating, especially since they stand in some relationship to the apocalyptic visions of the end times found in both the OT and NT.2002, Larry R. Helyer, Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period: A Guide for New Testament Students, InterVarsity Press…. From the entry end times

Meaning of apocalyptic

  1. adjective Revelatory; prophetic.
  2. adjective Catastrophic; disastrous.
  3. adjective Portending a future apocalypse (disaster, devastation, or doom).

Full definition of apocalyptic

Questions about apocalyptic in a sentence

How do you use apocalyptic in a sentence?
Apocalyptic is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “From beginning to end, and throughout, the Gospel makes such frequent use of apocalyptic motifs and the apocalyptic viewpoint that it deserves to be called the apocalyptic Gospel."”
What is a short sentence with apocalyptic?
“If conservatives are pessimistic, reactionaries are apocalyptic.”
What does apocalyptic mean?
Apocalyptic means revelatory; prophetic.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: apocalyptic (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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