English

Noun

apotheosis ‎(plural apotheoses)

1. The fact or action of becoming or making into a god; deification.
   • 1986, SRF Price, Rituals and Power, p. 75:

     In Rome itself the official position was clear: the apotheosis of the emperor took place only after his death; this had to be officially recognized by the Senate, and only then did the emperor become a divus with an official cult.

   • 2002, CE Newlands, Statius' Silvae and the Politics of Empire, p. 176:

     As a former mortal who underwent apotheosis, Hercules was important to the emperors.

2. Glorification, exaltation; crediting someone or something with extraordinary power or status.

   The turn of the century saw the apotheosis of digital technology.‎

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.

   • 1974, Per Lord Hailsham, Smedleys Ltd v Breed [1974]2 All ER 21(HL) at 24:

     Thereafter, the caterpillar achieved a sort of posthumous apotheosis. From local authority to the Dorchester magistrates, from the Dorchester magistrates to a Divisional Court presided over by the Lord Chief Justice of England, from the Lord Chief Justice to the House of Lords, the immolated insect has at length plodded its methodical way to the highest tribunal in the land.

3. A glorified example or ideal; the apex or pinnacle (of a concept or belief).
   • 1925, William Carlos Williams, 'Edgar Allan Poe', In The American Grain, 1990, p. 232:

     In his despair he had nowhere to turn. It is the very apotheosis of the place and the time.

4. The best moment or highest point in the development of something, for example of a life or career; the apex, culmination, or climax (of a development).

   The apotheosis of her career was her appointment as chairman.‎

5. Loosely, release from earthly life, ascension to heaven; death.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     Bear thee grimly, demigod! Up from the spray of thy ocean-perishing — straight up, leaps thy apotheosis!

6. (psychology) The latent entity that mediates between a person's psyche and their thoughts. The id, ego and superego in Freudian Psychology are examples of this.

Synonyms

• (making into a god): deification
• (act of glorification): exaltation, glorification
• (top point): apex, climax, culmination, peak, pinnacle
• (death): see also: death

Related terms

• apotheosize

Translations

Latin

Alternative forms

• apoth. abbreviation

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀποθέωσις ‎(apothéōsis), from verb ἀποθεόω ‎(apotheóō, “deify”) (factitive verb formed from θεός ‎(theós, “God”) with intensive prefix ἀπο- ‎(apo-)).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /a.po.tʰeˈoː.sis/

Noun

apotheōsis f ‎(genitive apotheōsis); third declension

1. apotheosis, deification

Inflection

Third declension i-stem.

Descendants

• French: apothéose
• Spanish: apoteosis

References

• apotheosis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “apotheosis”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• apotheosis in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• apotheosis in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin