epiphany

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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.

2. 2
   noun

   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.

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.

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