Adjacent Words

Apotheosis definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

APOTHE'OSIS, n. [Gr. of God.]
Deification; consecration; the act of placing a prince or other distinguished person among the heathen deities. This honor was often bestowed on illustrious men in Rome, and followed by the erection of temples, and the institution of sacrifices to the new deity.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal [syn: ideal, paragon, nonpareil, saint, apotheosis, nonesuch, nonsuch]
2: the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god) [syn: deification, exaltation, apotheosis]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural apotheoses) Etymology: Late Latin, from Greek apothe?sis, from apotheoun to deify, from apo- + theos god Date: circa 1580 1. elevation to divine status ; deification 2. the perfect example ; quintessence <this is the literary apotheosis of the shaggy dog story — Thomas Sutcliffe> • apotheosize transitive verb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. apotheoses) 1 elevation to divine status; deification. 2 a glorification of a thing; a sublime example (apotheosis of the dance). 3 a deified ideal. Etymology: eccl.L f. Gk apotheoo make a god of (as APO-, theos god)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Apotheosis Ap`o*the"o*sis (?; 277), n. pl. Apotheoses. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to deify; ? from + ? to deify, ? a god.] 1. The act of elevating a mortal to the rank of, and placing him among, ``the gods;'' deification. 2. Glorification; exaltation. ``The apotheosis of chivalry.'' --Prescott. ``The noisy apotheosis of liberty and machinery.'' --F. Harrison.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If something is the apotheosis of something else, it is an ideal or typical example of it. (FORMAL) The Oriental in Bangkok is the apotheosis of the grand hotel. = epitome N-SING: oft N of n 2. If you describe an event or a time as someone's apotheosis, you mean that it was the high point in their career or their life. (FORMAL) That night was Richard's apotheosis. N-SING: with poss

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Deification.

Moby Thesaurus

accolade, acme, admiration, adoration, adulation, aggrandizement, appreciation, approbation, approval, ascension, ascent, assumption, awe, beatification, beau ideal, bepraisement, best type, breathless adoration, canonization, congratulation, consideration, courtesy, culmination, cynosure, deference, deification, dignification, duty, ego ideal, elevation, eloge, embodiment, encomium, ennoblement, enshrinement, enthronement, epitome, erection, escalation, esteem, estimation, eulogium, eulogy, exaggerated respect, exaltation, excessive praise, favor, fetishization, flattery, gathering, glorification, glory, great respect, height, hero, hero worship, high regard, homage, hommage, honor, ideal, idolatry, idolization, idolizing, immortalization, kudos, last word, laud, laudation, lifting, lionization, lionizing, magnification, meed of praise, mirror, overpraise, paean, panegyric, paragon, peak, praise, prestige, quintessence, raising, rearing, regard, respect, resurrection, reverence, reverential regard, sainting, sanctification, shining example, summit, sursum corda, the Ascension, the Assumption, translation, tribute, ultimate, upbuoying, upcast, upheaval, uplift, uplifting, upping, uprearing, upthrow, upthrust, veneration, worship