Definition of Götterdämmerung in English:
Götterdämmerung
proper nounˌɡəːtəˈdɛmərʊŋˌɡädərˈdaməro͝oNG
(in Germanic mythology) the downfall of the gods.
Example sentencesExamples
- But in describing its unprecedented economic fertility, the imagery of Genesis is more appropriate than that of Götterdämmerung.
Origin
German, literally 'twilight of the gods', popularized by Wagner's use of the word as the title of the last opera of the Ring cycle.
twilight from Late Middle English:
A medieval combination of twi-, a form of two, and light. What significance ‘two’ has here is not entirely clear, though perhaps there is the idea of half-light, between day and night. In Scandinavian and German mythology the twilight of the gods is the destruction of the gods and the world in a final conflict with the powers of evil. English also uses the German and Old Norse equivalents Götterdämmerung and Ragnarök, the first of which is the title of the last opera in Richard Wagner's Ring cycle. Today, a twilight zone is primarily an urban area in a state of dilapidation or economic decline, but the term will forever be associated with the US television series The Twilight Zone, first shown in 1959. Each episode of the series offered a self-contained story with a science fiction or horror theme.
Definition of Götterdämmerung in US English:
Götterdämmerung
proper nounˌɡädərˈdaməro͝oNG
1(in Germanic mythology) the downfall of the gods.
Example sentencesExamples
- But in describing its unprecedented economic fertility, the imagery of Genesis is more appropriate than that of Götterdämmerung.
- 1.1as noun a Götterdämmerung The complete downfall of a regime.
Origin
German, literally ‘twilight of the gods’, popularized by Wagner's use of the word as the title of the last opera of the Ring cycle.