Meanings
- uncountableThe act of turning into a pumpkin; usually in jocular opposition to deification.
1992, Peter Russell, The Pound connection: in some poems, mainly uncollected or unpublished, Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Salzburg, Brodsky's recent pumpkinification as America's "laureate" might be considered as a typical example of officialdom's "laureate" criteria.
2 more examples
1870, George Long, s.n. "Seneca, L. Annaeus", page 781 in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, volume III. Apocolocyntosis, is a satire against the emperor Claudius. The word is a play on the term Apotheosis or deification, and is equivalent in meaning to Pumpkinification, or the reception of Claudius among the pumpkins.
Christianity, for example, admits females only as third-ranking immortals ("saints"), and many of its third-ranking gods, prior to their pumpkinification, were themselves vicious misogynists.
1989, Robert Atwan, Our Times
Synonyms & antonyms
antonym(s) of “turning into a pumpkin”
Origin
- Latinapocolocyntosis
- Ancient Greekἀποκολοκύντωσις
- Englishpumpkinification
From pumpkin + -ification: a calque of the Ancient Greek ἀποκολοκύντωσις (apokolokúntōsis) via the Latin apocolocyntosis. From the title of the work Apocolocyntosis (divi) Claudii, a satire on the deification of Claudius.
More words from Ancient Greek, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀποκολοκύντωσις
- ἀποκολοκύντωσις (apokolokúntōsis)the act of turning into a pumpkin
French apocoloquintose
- apocoloquintosethe act of turning into a pumpkin
German Verkürbissung
- Verkürbissungthe act of turning into a pumpkin
Italian apokolokyntosis, apocolocintesi
- apokolokyntosisthe act of turning into a pumpkin
- apocolocintesithe act of turning into a pumpkin
- zucchificazionethe act of turning into a pumpkin
Latin apocolocyntosis
- apocolocyntosisthe act of turning into a pumpkin
Polish apokolokyntoza
- apokolokyntozathe act of turning into a pumpkin
Cite this entry
pumpkinification. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pumpkinification
“pumpkinification.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pumpkinification. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pumpkinification,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pumpkinification.
Source: pumpkinification on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.