n. pl. e·piph·a·nies 1. Epiphany A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi, traditionally observed on January 6. 2. A revelatory manifestation of a divine being. 3. A sudden insight or intuitive understanding: "He had a painful epiphany about the absurdity of the job and quit" (Aleksandar Hemon). [Middle English epiphanie, from Old French, from Late Latin epiphania, from Greek epiphaneia, manifestation, from epiphainesthai, to appear : epi-, forth; see EPI- + phainein, phan-, to show; see bhā-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] ep′i·phanic (ĕp′ə-fănĭk) adj. |
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