miracle
//ˈmɪɹ.ə.kəl//
Forms
- Plural
- miracles
- present (v1)
- miracle
- past (v2)
- miracled
- past participle (v3)
- miracled
- present participle
- miracling
- 3rd person singular
- miracles
Definitions
1.An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin.
- Many religious beliefs are based on miracles.
- An example of a miracle associated with Muhammad is the splitting of the moon.
2.A fortunate outcome that prevails despite overwhelming odds against it.
- It was a miracle that I survived that ditching in the high waves because I had my seat belt and shoulder harness unbuckled in anticipation of bailing out.
3.An awesome and exceptional example of something.
- The home of our kings, over which you tread as you pace the immense hall known as the Salle des Pas-Perdus, was a miracle of architecture.
- It was a miracle of engineering that made possible, with the cheap electricity the dam generated, another kind of miracle: the bizarre, superilluminated city of Las Vegas, Nevada.
1.To affect by a miracle; to work a miracle upon.
- They think I've miracled the dogs, as the Eucharist miracled my mother. That I, Bonne, am pulsing with holy spirit.
- Deleuze and Guattari are right in miracling fleas into the bestiary, but it is already rich enough to do without them.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3337
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English miracle, from Old French miracle, from Latin mīrāculum (“object of wonder”), from mīror (“to wonder at”), from mīrus (“wonderful”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyh₂- (“to smile, to be astonished”).
Doublet of milagro and miraculum.