Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A particular period of history, especially one considered remarkable or noteworthy.
- n. A notable event that marks the beginning of such a period. See Synonyms at period.
- n. A unit of geologic time that is a division of a period.
- n. Astronomy An instant in time that is arbitrarily selected as a point of reference.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A point of time from which succeeding years are numbered; especially, a point of time distinguished by some remarkable event, or the event itself as distinguishing the time of its occurrence.
- n. Hence A specific period of time; any space of time considered as a unit with reference to some particular characteristic or course of events.
- n. In geology, specifically, one of the shorter divisions of geological time. This word is used differently by different geological writers. Thus, Jukes divides the entire series of fossiliferous strata into only three epochs, while Dana makes eight out of the Lower Silurian alone. Some later writers avoid the use of such words as epoch and age, saying, for instance, instead of Silurian epoch or age, simply Silurian.
- n. In astronomy, an arbitrary fixed date, for which the elements of a planetary or cometary orbit, or of any motion, are given.
- n. See the adjectives.
- n. See equivalent phrases under era.
- n. Synonyms Epoch, Era, Period, Age. Epoch and era should be distinguished, though in common usage they are interchanged. “An era is a succession of time: an epoch is a point of time. An era commonly begins at an epoch. We live in the Christian era, in the Protestant era, in the era of liberty and letters. The date of the birth of Christ was an epoch: the period of the dawn of the Reformation was an epoch” (A. Phelps, Eng. Style, p. 365). Period may be the opposite of epoch, in being the date at which anything ends, or it may be mere duration, or duration from point to point; the word is very free and often indefinite in its range of meaning. The meaning of age is modified by its connection with human life, so as often to be associated with a person: as, the age of Pericles; but it is also freely applied to time, viewed as a period of some length: as, the bronze age; the golden age; this is an age of investigation.
- n. In the mechanics of vibration, a term introduced into the equation for a simple harmonic motion in cases where time is not reckoned from the instant when the vibrating particle has reached its greatest positive elongation. The equation then becomes x =
α cos (tω +e ), in which e is the epoch. The epoch is the angle traversed by the point of reference in the interval between the era of reckoning and the instant of greatest elongation.
Wiktionary
- n. A particular period of history, especially one considered remarkable or noteworthy.
- n. A notable event which marks the beginning of such a period.
- n. astronomy A precise instant of time that is used as a reference point.
- n. computing, uncountable A precise instant of time that is used as a reference point (e.g. January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A fixed point of time, established in history by the occurrence of some grand or remarkable event; a point of time marked by an event of great subsequent influence
- n. A period of time, longer or shorter, remarkable for events of great subsequent influence; a memorable period.
- n. (Geol.) A division of time characterized by the prevalence of similar conditions of the earth; commonly a minor division or part of a period.
- n. The date at which a planet or comet has a longitude or position.
- n. An arbitrary fixed date, for which the elements used in computing the place of a planet, or other heavenly body, at any other date, are given
WordNet 3.0
- n. (astronomy) an arbitrarily fixed date that is the point in time relative to which information (as coordinates of a celestial body) is recorded
- n. a unit of geological time that is a subdivision of a period and is itself divided into ages
- n. a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event
Etymologies
- From Medieval Latin epocha, from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhē, "a check, cessation, stop, pause, epoch of a star, e.g., the point at which it seems to halt after reaching the highest, and generally the place of a star; hence, a historical epoch"), from ἐπέχειν (epechein, "to hold in, check"), from ἐπί (épí, "upon") + ἔχειν (echein, "to have, hold"). (Wiktionary)
- Medieval Latin epocha, measure of time, from Greek epokhē, a point in time; see segh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Marriage, whatever its particular manifestation in a particular culture or epoch, is essentially about who may and who may not have sexual access to a woman when she becomes an adult, and is also about how her adulthood -- and sexual accessibility -- is defined.”
“Special elections require time, and, especially in epoch of such delicacy, special elections may inhibit the ability to pass important legislation.”
“In this street, stunt performers in epoch dresses walked around Lisbon in old cars and distributed the "Mad Men News" newspaper.”
“The correlation of all these factors and which ones may be dominant during a given epoch is still the subject of intense research and is more of a guesstimate than firmly established scientific fact†¦ ..”
“Because many computers today store the number of seconds as a 32-bit signed integer, the Unix epoch is often said to last 231 seconds, thus “ending” at 03: 14: 07 Tuesday, January 19, 2038 (UTC).”
“This is a fact the significance of which cannot escape anyone, and one which incontestably marks an epoch from the point of view of chemists.”
“The slowness of historical change, the fact that any epoch always contains a great deal of the last epoch, is never sufficiently allowed for.”
“A French writer said a year or two, ago, 'our epoch is not particularly gay but it is passionately interesting.”
“As the Davidic epoch is the point of the covenant-people's highest glory, so the captivity is that of their lowest humiliation.”
“Then the police turn around, but there’s an oak tree where their car used to be because an epoch is passing.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘epoch’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
-
Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 330 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
-
Blippets
Time~sphere phenomena, manipulations, fluctuations, processes, measurements, and oddities. For use in building my machine.
microfortnight, transilient, instant, flash, breath, blink, beat, momentary, nimesha, truti, second, centisecond and 120 more...
-
Time
clock, forever, never, ever, ago, when, then, now, past, present, future, timeline and 119 more...
-
Time
Words related to time
time, occurrence, duration, schedule, calendar, period, continuance, event, before, until, since, after and 28 more...
-
epi-, ep-
upon; above; in addition
epitaph, epicotyl, epiphenomenon, epipen, epigastric, epithelium, epicenter, epoch, epicardium, epaxial, ephedrine
-
dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
-
ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 521 more...
-
Advanced Words: Part II
facetious, felicitous, grandiloquent, germane, repatriate, exigency, exculpate, etheral, fatuous, heterogeneous, hiatus, idiosyncrasy and 118 more...
-
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 3063 more... -
e
ws 2
enumerate, embroil, embellish, epicure, epoch, estrange, evince, excise, exodus, exorbitant, expiate
-
Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
-
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
-
Words I'd Like to Use Someday
thundersnow, phantasmagoria, mercurial, chimerical, taciturn, paraclete, lapis lazuli, flay, guttersnipe, wonky, misanthrope, kestrel and 583 more...
-
Logophile, The Back Page (AKA: just c...
node, nexus, locus, toroidal, ivory, kestrel, lyre, muscat, caldera, tapestry, codex, paragon and 103 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for epoch.

pikachu "No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence." --Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad Mar 8, 2011