Meaning

(theology) Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions..

Definitions by Sense

1. (theology) Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions.
2. (by extension) That passively defines a thing by describing what is not characteristic of it.

Example Sentences

For him, the assertions of Palamas ran counter to the apophatic insistence in Pseudo-Dionysius that God was unknowable in his essence.

Augustine had absorbed the underlying spirit of Greek apophatic theology, but the West did not develop a fully fledged spirituality of silence until the ninth century, when the writings of an unknown Greek author were translated into Latin and achieved near-canonical status in Europe.

Here is a sudden interruption of remorseless, detailed exposition with a triple-punch of one-sentence paragraphs of self-indentification (2.1–2.4), and of an apophatic, negative kind, statements of what communists are not, have not, do not—[…]

Word Forms

• more apophatic
• most apophatic

Antonyms for apophatic

Related Words

When Should You Use Apophatic?

Use apophatic when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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