Meanings
plural epiphanettes
- countableA small epiphanylike realization or insight.
... I had a small insight. An epiphanette, if you will.
2006 July 10, Jay Lake, “A brief mediation on etiquette”, in LiveJournal3 more examples
... I would begin with some grand epiphanette like, "KC and The Sunshine Band wasn't as bad as you think," ...
1991 Tom Maurstad, from a review of "The Best of KC and The Sunshine Band" in Dallas Morning News, republished in The Charlotte Observer, "The Week in Reviews," Sun, Jan 06, 1991, page 982016 Zina Nibley Petersen, "Deus Mea Lux Est: A Mormon Among Catholics," Dialogue, Volume 49, No. 1, pp. 109-118, Spring 2016. I have had questions resolved by overheard snatches of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and have had little epiphanies (epiphanettes, I call them) by recalling seemingly random song lyrics—they pop into my head fortuitously, and God and I share a chuckle.
I was introduced to the word on a podcast where David Allen the author of, Getting Things Done, used it in the context of arriving at his current position. He said he had not had one big epiphany he would start one of the most successful business consultancy firms in the world, he only had small epiphanettes.
2019 September 23, Ethan Crowell, “https://learnandlead.medium.com/epiphany-of-epiphanette-e739804c50e7] Epiphany of Epiphanette”, in MediumSynonyms: minipiphany
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small epiphanylike realization or insight.
Origin
From epiphany + -ette. First use in print may be by Tom Maurstad in a music review in early 1991.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
epiphanette. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/epiphanette
“epiphanette.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/epiphanette. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “epiphanette,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/epiphanette.
Source: epiphanette on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.