Meanings
plural deae ex machina
- A female deus ex machina; a providential intervention (in a story etc.) from a female force or character.
That's the end of her story—the Cinderella path—but it's not the end of her life, which is just as well, because the poor little rat-boy ends up in desperate need of a dea ex machina in order to save him from the terrible fate towards which the path of his story seems to be taking him.
1999, Philip Pullman, “The Path Through the Wood”, in Daemon Voices, Vintage, published 2017, page 79
Origin
- Latindeus ex māchinā
- Englishdea ex machina
An alteration of Latin deus ex māchinā in English, substituting the masculine or epicene deus (“god”) with the feminine dea (“goddess”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
dea ex machina. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dea%20ex%20machina
“dea ex machina.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dea%20ex%20machina. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dea ex machina,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dea%20ex%20machina.
Source: dea ex machina on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.