"apophatic" meaning in English

See apophatic in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /apə(ʊ)ˈfatɪk/ [UK] Forms: more apophatic [comparative], most apophatic [superlative]
Etymology: From Ancient Greek ἀποφατικός (apophatikós, “negative”). Etymology templates: {{uder|en|grc|ἀποφατικός||negative}} Ancient Greek ἀποφατικός (apophatikós, “negative”) Head templates: {{en-adj}} apophatic (comparative more apophatic, superlative most apophatic)
  1. (theology) Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions. Categories (topical): Theology, Philosophy, Theology Translations (pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions): apophatique (French), apophatisch (German), αποφατικός (apofatikós) [masculine] (Greek), apofatico (Italian), apofatyczny (Polish), apofático (Portuguese), apofatički (Serbo-Croatian)
    Sense id: en-apophatic-en-adj-s3lUYpPb Disambiguation of Philosophy: 89 11 Disambiguation of Theology: 100 0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English undefined derivations, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Greek translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45 Disambiguation of English undefined derivations: 77 23 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 73 27 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 71 29 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 74 26 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 84 16 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 81 19 Disambiguation of Terms with Greek translations: 81 19 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 83 17 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 79 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 80 20 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 80 20 Topics: lifestyle, religion, theology Disambiguation of 'pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions': 99 1
  2. (by extension) That passively defines a thing by describing what it is not characteristic of. Tags: broadly
    Sense id: en-apophatic-en-adj-mM9h9kDV Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: apophatically Related terms: apophatism
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  "derived": [
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      "_dis1": "0 0",
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      "expansion": "Ancient Greek ἀποφατικός (apophatikós, “negative”)",
      "name": "uder"
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  "etymology_text": "From Ancient Greek ἀποφατικός (apophatikós, “negative”).",
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      "form": "more apophatic",
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        {
          "ref": "2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 488:",
          "text": "For him, the assertions of Palamas ran counter to the apophatic insistence in Pseudo-Dionysius that God was unknowable in his essence.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage, published 2010, page 123:",
          "text": "Augustine had absorbed the underlying spirit of Greek apophatic theology, but the West did not develop a fully fledged spirituality of silence until the ninth century, when the writings of an unknown Greek author were translated into Latin and achieved near-canonical status in Europe.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions."
      ],
      "id": "en-apophatic-en-adj-s3lUYpPb",
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        "(theology) Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions."
      ],
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
          "word": "apophatique"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
          "word": "apophatisch"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "apofatikós",
          "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "αποφατικός"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
          "word": "apofatico"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
          "word": "apofatyczny"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
          "word": "apofático"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
          "word": "apofatički"
        }
      ]
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          "ref": "2022, China Miéville, chapter 6, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Here is a sudden interruption of remorseless, detailed exposition with a triple-punch of one-sentence paragraphs of self-indentification (2.1–2.4), and of an apophatic, negative kind, statements of what communists are not, have not, do not—[…]",
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        }
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        "That passively defines a thing by describing what it is not characteristic of."
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        "(by extension) That passively defines a thing by describing what it is not characteristic of."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
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      "ipa": "/apə(ʊ)ˈfatɪk/",
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}
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      "form": "more apophatic",
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      "form": "most apophatic",
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          "ref": "2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 488:",
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        {
          "ref": "2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage, published 2010, page 123:",
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        "(theology) Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions."
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        "(by extension) That passively defines a thing by describing what it is not characteristic of."
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
      "word": "apophatique"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
      "word": "apophatisch"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "apofatikós",
      "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "αποφατικός"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
      "word": "apofatico"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
      "word": "apofatyczny"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
      "word": "apofático"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions",
      "word": "apofatički"
    }
  ],
  "word": "apophatic"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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