apotheosis

plural apotheoses

1. countableuncountableThe fact or action of becoming or making into a god; deification.

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

   2002, CE Newlands, Statius' Silvae and the Politics of Empire, page 176

   1 more example

   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.

   1986, SRF Price, Rituals and Power, page 75

   Synonyms: deification, theogenesis, exaltation

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

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

   2 more examples

   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.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   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.

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

   Synonyms: exaltation, glorification

3. countableuncountableA glorified example or ideal; the apex or pinnacle (of a concept or belief).

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

   1925, William Carlos Williams, 'Edgar Allan Poe', In The American Grain, published 1990, page 232

   1 more example

   In 2009, in the course of It Felt Like A Kiss, the sublime theatre event Curtis put on with Punchdrunk about the birth of hyper-consumerism, I was separated from the audience and sent down a long, dark corridor, which I took to represent the apotheosis of individualism.

   2011 May 6, Katharine Viner, “Adam Curtis: Have computers taken away our power?”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: apex, paragon

4. countableuncountableThe 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.

   Synonyms: apex, climax, culmination, peak, pinnacle

5. broadlycountableuncountableRelease from earthly life, ascension to heaven; death.

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

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

   Synonyms: death

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