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.
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.