parousia

noun

variants or Parousia
in Christian theology
: the time when Jesus Christ will return to judge humanity at the end of the world : second coming
Christians around A.D. 64 anxiously awaited the parousia, Jesus Christ's imminent Second Coming.Tom Mueller
In a word, everything hinges on the interpretation, or rather, re-interpretation of the parousia, that is, the time of the arrival of the Messiah.Otto Rank
… treading the paths of history in order to come at last to the Parousia.States News Service

Word History

Etymology

Greek, literally, presence, from paront-, parōn, present participle of pareinai to be present, from para- + einai to be — more at is

First Known Use

1781, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of parousia was in 1781

Dictionary Entries Near parousia

Cite this Entry

“Parousia.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parousia. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!