apocalypse: [13] A ‘catastrophic event, such as the end of the world’ is a relatively recent, 20thcentury development in the meaning of apocalypse. Originally it was an alternative name for the book of the Bible known as the ‘Revelation of St. John the divine’, which describes a vision of the future granted to St John on the island of Patmos. And in fact, the underlying etymological meaning of apocalypse is literally ‘revelation’.
It comes, via Old French and ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek apokálupsis, a derivative of the verb apokalúptein ‘uncover, reveal’, which was formed from the prefix apo- ‘away, off’ and the verb kalúptein ‘cover’ (related to English conceal). => conceal
apocalypse (n.)
late 14c., "revelation, disclosure," from Church Latin apocalypsis "revelation," from Greek apokalyptein "uncover, disclose, reveal," from apo- "from" (see apo-) + kalyptein "to cover, conceal" (see Calypso). The Christian end-of-the-world story is part of the revelation in John of Patmos' book "Apokalypsis" (a title rendered into English as "Apocalypse" c. 1230 and "Revelations" by Wyclif c. 1380).
Its general sense in Middle English was "insight, vision; hallucination;" meaning "a cataclysmic event" is modern. As agent nouns, apocalypst (1829), apocalypt (1834), and apocalyptist (1835) have been tried.
雙語例句
1. Civilization is on the brink of apocalypse.
文明已瀕臨毀滅的邊緣。
來自《權威詞典》
2. We live in the shadow of the apocalypse, of a catastrophe that will mean the end of the world itself.
我們生活在意味著世界末日將要到來的災難的陰影當中。
來自柯林斯例句
3. It's Ride of the Valkyries from Apocalypse Now.
那是《現代啟示錄》里的《狂熱的瓦格納》.
來自電影對白
4. Palm trees remind me the bombing scenes in Apocalypse Now.
會安的棕櫚樹,讓我聯想到《現代啟示錄》的轟炸場面.
來自互聯網
5. We live in the age of the final , ultimate Apocalypse.