epoch

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noun ep·och \ˈe-pək, ˈe-ˌpäk, US also and British usually ˈē-ˌpäk\

Definition of epoch

1a : an event or a time marked by an event that begins a new period or developmentb : a memorable event or date
2a : an extended period of time usually characterized by a distinctive development or by a memorable series of eventsb : a division of geologic time less than a period and greater than an age
3 : an instant of time or a date selected as a point of reference (as in astronomy)

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Examples of epoch in a Sentence

The Civil War era was an epoch in 19th-century U.S. history.
The development of the steam engine marked an important epoch in the history of industry.

Recent Examples of epoch from the Web

Portentous, considering that the current concentration of CO2, now more than 400 parts per million, is reaching a level not seen for perhaps three million years, since the Pliocene epoch.

— andrea gawrylewski, Scientific American, "Bug Lovers, Earth’s Many Apocalypses, the Surprising Minds of Vegetative Patients and Other New Science Books", 3 July 2017
Deep thinkers in ancient Greece and Rome recognized fossils as the remains of life-forms from earlier epochs.

— mike sager, Smithsonian, "Will the Public Ever Get to See the “Dueling Dinosaurs”?", 28 June 2017
Each of her books is a dense tapestry woven from encounters with those caught up in epoch-making events, from the second world war to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.

— anna diamond, The Atlantic, "Russia’s Cyberwar Lab and Haiti’s Portable Pharmacies: The Week in Global-Affairs Writing", 23 June 2017
Around ten thousand years ago, as the Pleistocene gave way to our current geological epoch, a group of hunter-gathers near China’s Yangtze River began changing their way of life.

— sarah zhang, The Atlantic, "Rice Was First Grown At Least 9,400 Years Ago", 29 May 2017
Another is to ask what life will look like in that epoch—both what lifeforms could become extinct and what could eventually become possible.

— sarah zhang, The Atlantic, "A Grand New Theory of Life's Evolution on Earth", 19 May 2017
In her paintings, as in her homes, Stettheimer gathered the best and the quirkiest spirits and energies—the collective genius—of her epoch, gave them a whirl, and sent them spinning into the future.

— peter schjeldahl, The New Yorker, "Revisiting Florine Stettheimer’s Place in Art History", 15 May 2017
Then came the Hadron epoch, when the first protons and neutrons formed from quarks, about 1 second after the Big Bang.

— jay bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Filling in the Missing History of the Universe", 10 Apr. 2017
An epoch of exceptional monetary stimulus is drawing to a close.

— jon hilsenrath, WSJ, "Central Banks Drop Their Bazookas", 16 Jan. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'epoch'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Epoch comes to us, via Medieval Latin, from Greek epochē, meaning "cessation" or "fixed point." "Epochē," in turn, comes from the Greek verb epechein, meaning "to pause" or "to hold back." When "epoch" was first borrowed into English, it referred to the fixed point used to mark the beginning of a system of chronology. That sense is now obsolete, but today "epoch" is used in some fields (such as astronomy) with the meaning "an instant of time or a date selected as a point of reference." The "an event or a time that begins a new period or development" sense first appeared in print in the early 17th century, and "epoch" has been applied to defining moments or periods of time ever since.

Origin and Etymology of epoch

Medieval Latin epocha, from Greek epochē cessation, fixed point, from epechein to pause, hold back, from epi- + echein to hold — more at scheme

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First Known Use: 1614

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of epoch

period, epoch, era, age mean a division of time. period may designate an extent of time of any length. periods of economic prosperity epoch applies to a period begun or set off by some significant or striking quality, change, or series of events. the steam engine marked a new epoch in industry era suggests a period of history marked by a new or distinct order of things. the era of global communications age is used frequently of a fairly definite period dominated by a prominent figure or feature. the age of Samuel Johnson