epochal

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

|Updated on: 8 Jul 2018

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

Martinez is the creator of what is arguably the 20th century’s most epochal invention—the frozen margarita machine—and, at the age of 73, the Dallas restaurateur is an indisputable authority on the cocktail in the salt-rimmed glass.

— franz lidz, Smithsonian, "The Uniquely Texan Origins of the Frozen Margarita," 27 June 2018
And when West convened the dream team that helped him bring 2010's epochal My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy into existence, Cudi was a key member.

— eric renner brown, Billboard, "What a Kanye West-Kid Cudi Joint Album Means to Hip-Hop," 30 Apr. 2018
But no matter what happens, here’s what not to expect: anything epochal, or generation shifting.

— julie muncy, WIRED, "E3 Is Going to be a Weird One—But Don’t Hold Your Breath," 10 June 2018
Almost before that epochal change can sink in, the government is taking steps to end another practice backed by the Catholic Church: a provision that gives preference in most of the country’s elementary schools to children who have been baptized.

— New York Times, "Ireland Takes On the Catholic Church Again. This Time It’s About Schools.," 1 June 2018
Powers’s dominant mode of narrative is synopsis, a necessary crutch given the novel’s mob of characters and epochal chronological scale.

— nathaniel rich, The Atlantic, "The Novel That Asks, ‘What Went Wrong With Mankind?’," 11 May 2018
In that light, turning away from Google and Amazon reflects the investing philosophy that has been core to Berkshire Hathaway’s epochal success.

— david z. morris, Fortune, "Warren Buffett Says He Was Wrong About Google and Amazon," 6 May 2018
That's an approach that could escalate the standoff with the President into an epochal Supreme Court drama with massive political reverberations -- which many experts think Trump would lose.

— stephen collinson, CNN, "Trump and Mueller are closing in on open war," 3 May 2018
This friend was a political activist who’d been present at many epochal moments of the struggle against apartheid in the 1980s and the remaking of the nation in the 1990s.

— eve fairbanks, The New Republic, "The Scapegoating of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela," 5 Apr. 2018

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.