incarnation definition

English incarnation definition

Etymology

From Middle English incarnacion, borrowed from Old French incarnacion, from Medieval Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin incarnatio, from Late Latin incarnari (“to be made flesh”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪŋkɑː(ɹ)ˈneɪʃən/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

incarnation (countable and uncountable, plural incarnations)

1. An incarnate being or form.
   • 1815, Francis Jeffrey, Wordsworth's White Doe (review)

     She is a new incarnation of some of the illustrious dead.

   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[1]:

     She had cast off the terror of the leaping flame, the cold power of judgment that was even now being done, and the wise sadness of the tombs - cast them off and put them behind her, like the white shroud she wore, and now stood out the incarnation of lovely tempting womanhood, made more perfect - and in a way more spiritual - than ever woman was before.

   • 1922, Baroness Orczy, The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel

     Robespierre, the very incarnation of lustful and deadly Vengeance, stands silently by..

   • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

     The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2. A living being embodying a deity or spirit.

   Synonym: avatar

3. An assumption of human form or nature.
4. A person or thing regarded as embodying or exhibiting some quality, idea, or the like.

   The leading dancer is the incarnation of grace.

   Synonyms: embodiment, instantiation, realization

5. The act of incarnating.
6. The state of being incarnated.
7. (obsolete) A rosy or red colour; flesh colour; carnation.
8. (medicine, obsolete) The process of healing wounds and filling the part with new flesh; granulation.

Related terms

• carnal
• incarnate
• reincarnate
• reincarnation

Translations

Further reading

• incarnation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• incarnation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

French incarnation definition

Etymology

From Middle French incarnation, from Old French incarnacion, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin incarnātiō, incarnātiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.kaʁ.na.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

incarnation f (plural incarnations)

1. embodiment (entity typifying an abstraction)

Related terms

• incarner

Descendants

• → Turkish: enkarnasyon

Further reading

• “incarnation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French incarnation definition

Etymology

From Old French incarnacion, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin incarnātiō, incarnātiōnem.

Noun

incarnation f (plural incarnations)

1. (Christianity) Incarnation. Specifically, the incarnation of God in the form of Jesus Christ.

Descendants

• French: incarnation

References

• incarnation on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)