epochal

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adjective ep·och·al \ ˈe-pə-kəl , ˈe-ˌpä-kəl \

Definition of epochal

1 :of or relating to an epoch

2 :uniquely or highly significant :momentous

during his three epochal years in the assembly
—C. G. Bowers

; also :unparalleled

epochal stupidity

—

epochally

adverb

Recent Examples of epochal from the Web

A reflection of epochal changes, the civil rights leader's statue is going up in his Southern hometown at a time when monuments honoring Civil War Confederates are coming down in many other places across the South.

— kathleen foody, chicagotribune.com, "Martin Luther King Jr. statue to rise on Georgia Capitol, as Confederate monuments fall," 26 Aug. 2017
But Obama’s conservatism has nonetheless brought about an epochal, defining achievement for American liberalism: a robust American consensus in favor of universal health insurance.

— andrew sullivan, Daily Intelligencer, "The Triumph of Obama’s Long Game," 21 July 2017
Expo 67 was an epochal event in the history of new media — particularly for multi-projector cinema, screened for audiences who often sat on moving platforms — and several of its feats have been rebooted this summer.

— jason farago, New York Times, "Expo 2017: Utopia, Rebooted," 22 June 2017
And the run itself to that epochal late spring Wednesday night lives on.

— eric stephens, Orange County Register, "A decade after winning the Stanley Cup title, the 2006-07 Ducks remain the franchise’s beloved standard," 19 June 2017
But his strenuous efforts felt silly for a drama in which Darrow reminisces in his office about such epochal cases as the Haymarket Riot, the Scopes Monkey Trial, and the Leopold and Loeb murder.

— frank scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, "Critic's Notebook: Kevin Spacey Misses His Serve Performing a One-Man Play in a Tennis Stadium," 16 June 2017
Du Bois, in his response to Ambedkar, acknowledged Ambedkar’s epochal work and expressed his desire to aid in the cause of India’s untouchables.

— cornel west and suraj yengde, The Root, "A Shared History of Struggle Should Unite India’s Dalits and African Americans in the Fight for Equality," 12 June 2017
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, the swift, epochal conflict in which Israel decisively defeated a host of Arab armies and captured territory held by Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

— ishaan tharoor, Washington Post, "The 1967 Arab-Israeli war took six days. But 50 years later, it’s still not over.," 7 June 2017
Filming this docu-fiction in Los Angeles in June, 1968, the week of California’s Democratic primary, the French director Agnès Varda catches the era’s epochal violence and cultural exuberance, high hopes and bitter outcomes.

— richard brody, The New Yorker, "Lions Love (. . . and Lies)," 5 June 2017

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