Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural e·piph·a·nies.
- (initial capital letter) a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi; Twelfth-day.
- an appearance or manifestation, especially of a deity.
- a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
- a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.
noun plural -nies
- the manifestation of a supernatural or divine reality
- any moment of great or sudden revelation
noun plural -nies
- a Christian festival held on Jan 6, commemorating, in the Western Church, the manifestation of Christ to the Magi and, in the Eastern Church, the baptism of Christ
early 14c., “festival of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles” (celebrated Jan. 6; usually with a capital -E-), from Old French epiphanie, from Late Latin epiphania, neuter plural (taken as feminine singular), from late Greek epiphaneia “manifestation, striking appearance” (in New Testament, “advent or manifestation of Christ”), from epiphanes “manifest, conspicuous,” from epiphainein “to manifest, display,” from epi “on, to” (see epi-) + phainein “to show” (see phantasm).
Of divine beings other than Christ, first recorded 1660s; general literary sense of “any manifestation or revelation” appeared 1840, first in De Quincey.
A festival in Christianity celebrating the visit of the Wise Men to the infant Jesus. Epiphany means “a showing forth” — in this case a showing forth of Jesus to the Gentiles.