epiphany — English Dictionary

Noun

1. An illuminating realization or discovery, often resulting in a personal feeling of elation, awe, or wonder.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Synonyms

   aha momentenlightenmenteureka momentnirvanasatori

   Examples

   It came to her in an epiphany what her life's work was to be.

   More examples (2)

   Instead of examining institutions and classes, structures of economic production and social control, one had to think about “moments”—moments of love, hate, poetry, frustration, action, surrender, delight, humiliation, justice, cruelty, resignation, surprise, disgust, resentment, self-loathing, pity, fury, peace of mind—those tiny epiphanies, Lefebvre said, in which the absolute possibilities and temporal limits of anyone's existence were revealed.

   But after spending most of my pocket money to get those developed, I had an epiphany: I was never going to be a professional photographer. My pictures were god-awful. I put the camera away.

   Between the gaps, I was swimming laps / Got close to some epiphany / I'll convince a friend to join deep ends / Have your toes touch the lack of cement

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   The logic of the standard biography—a formative event leads to an epiphany that creates the great man—doesn’t quite work when the greatness doesn’t have much to do with the man at all.

2. A manifestation or appearance of a divine or superhuman being.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Synonyms

   theophany

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

Noun

1. a divine manifestation

   Broader terms

   manifestation