exaltation
English
Etymology
From Middle English exaltacioun, exaltatioun, from Old French exaltacion and Latin exaltātiō (“exaltation, elevation”), from exaltō (“raise, elevate, exalt”), from ex (“from, out of”) + altus (“high”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌɛɡ.zɔl.ˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Rhymes: -eɪʃən
Noun
exaltation (countable and uncountable, plural exaltations)
- The act of exalting or raising high; also, the state of being exalted; elevation.
- The refinement or subtilization of a body, or the increasing of its virtue or principal property.
- (astrology) That placement of a planet in the zodiac in which it is deemed to exert its strongest influence.
- 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 483:
- He often stood there in a muse until dusk fell, and then darkness, while once in a while the moon, ‘in her exaltation’ as the astrologers say, rose to remind him that such worldly musings meant nothing to the hostile universe without.
- 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 483:
- (rare) The collective noun for larks.
- 1893 September 27, The Bazaar, the Exchange and Mart, London, page 800, column 3:
- "Oh, I, well, I too fell into error, for I frittered away my morning in stalking yonder exaltation of larks, thinking they were dunlin, and in doing so disturbed the only sord of mallards on the whole marsh."
- 1989, Ronald K. Siegel, Intoxication: The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering Substances, Park Street Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 192:
- In a sense, the editorial cartoons were correct when they suggested that an exaltation of larks can fly under the influence into an aspect of vulturous behavior.
- 2005, Lucille Bellucci, Journey from Shanghai, iUniverse, published 2005, →ISBN, page 83:
- “I'd like to think of my father being lifted to God in an exaltation of larks.”
- 2005, Linda Bird Francke, On the Road with Francis of Assisi: A Timeless Journey Through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond, Random House, published 2006, →ISBN, page 232:
- It is said that an exaltation of larks, which had assembled on the roof of Francis's hut, suddenly—and inexplicably—took to the air just after sunset, wheeling and singing.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:exaltation.
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- (medicine, archaic) An abnormal sense of personal well-being, power, or importance, observed as a symptom in various forms of insanity.
Derived terms
- self-exaltation
Translations
the act of exalting or raising high
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French
Etymology
From Latin exaltātiō.
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
exaltation f (plural exaltations)
- exaltation
Related terms
- exalter
Further reading
- “exaltation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.