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.
双语例句
1. Civilization is on the brink of apocalypse.
文明已濒临毁灭的边缘。
来自《权威词典》
2. We live in the shadow of the apocalypse, of a catastrophe that will mean the end of the world itself.
我们生活在意味着世界末日将要到来的灾难的阴影当中。
来自柯林斯例句
3. It's Ride of the Valkyries from Apocalypse Now.
那是《现代启示录》里的《狂热的瓦格纳》.
来自电影对白
4. Palm trees remind me the bombing scenes in Apocalypse Now.
会安的棕榈树,让我联想到《现代启示录》的轰炸场面.
来自互联网
5. We live in the age of the final , ultimate Apocalypse.