: a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad
Epiphany : a Christian festival held on January 6 in honor of the coming of the three kings to the infant Jesus Christ
: a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way
plural epiph·a·nies
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Full Definition of EPIPHANY
1
capitalized: January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ
2
: an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being
3
a (1): a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2): an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3): an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure
b: a revealing scene or moment
Examples of EPIPHANY
Seeing her father again when she was an adult was an epiphany that changed her whole view of her childhood.
Invention has its own algorithm: genius, obsession, serendipity, and epiphany in some unknowable combination. —Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker, 12 May 2008
One day, a New York composer met an expert on Asian domesticated elephants, and together they reached some sort of freakish epiphany and decided to see if elephants could learn to play music. —Jon Pareles, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2002
One epiphany came when a dozen engineers in northern New Mexico saw a lone, fading Xerox paper carton bobbing in a swamp of old motor oil at the bottom of a pit. —Michelle Conlin, Business Week, 1 Nov. 1999
Origin of EPIPHANY
Middle English epiphanie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin epiphania, from Late Greek, plural, probably alteration of Greek epiphaneia appearance, manifestation, from epiphainein to manifest, from epi- + phainein to show — more at fancy
ser·en·dip·i·ty noun\ˌser-ən-ˈdi-pə-tē\ : luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for
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Full Definition of SERENDIPITY
: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also: an instance of this
Examples of SERENDIPITY
They found each other by pure serendipity.
As they leapfrog from South Africa to Singapore in search of local delicacies, the authors prove again and again that serendipity is the traveler’s strongest ally: many of their most memorable meals issue from the hands of generous strangers … —Sarah Karnasiewicz, Saveur, June/July 2008[-]hide
Origin of SERENDIPITY
from its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip
Melissa Janda - A Time to Write 