exaltation

See also: 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/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

exaltation (countable and uncountable, plural exaltations)

1. The act of exalting or raising high; also, the state of being exalted; elevation.
   • 2023, The Most Influential Women in History:

     The irregular and undisciplined wars which it was her business to describe were naturally far more prolific of extraordinary incidents, unexpected turns of fortune, and striking displays of individual talent, and vice and virtue, than the more solemn movements of national hostility, where everything is in a great measure provided and foreseen, and where the inflexible subordination of rank, and the severe exactions of a limited duty, not only take away the inducement, but the opportunity, for those exaltations of personal feeling and adventure which produce the most lively interest, and lead to the most animating results.

2. The refinement or subtilization of a body, or the increasing of its virtue or principal property.
3. (astrology) That placement of a planet in the zodiac in which it is deemed to exert its strongest influence.
   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 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.

4. (Mormonism) Apotheosis; becoming a god in the highest degree of glory after death.
   • 1958, Bruce R. McConkie, “Omnipotence”, in Mormon Doctrine, 1st edition, page 492:

     Those who obtain exaltation will gain all power and thus themselves be omnipotent […]

   • 2019, Thomas G. Alexander, Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith, →ISBN, page 209:

     Mormon commentators have taken various position about whether people who have died could move from a lower degree of glory—what non-Mormons might call salvation—to a higher one and eventually reach exaltation and become gods.

5. (uncommon) 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.
6. (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

• Bulgarian: възхвала (bg) f (vǎzhvala)
• German: Erhöhen n, Erhöhung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (hauheins)
• Hungarian: felmagasztalás (hu), magasztalás (hu), (in the literal sense) felemelés (hu)
• Persian: شرف (fa) (šaraf)

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin exaltātiō. By surface analysis, exalter +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛɡ.zal.ta.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

exaltation f (plural exaltations)

1. exaltation

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with exultation.

Further reading

• “exaltation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.