Library / English Dictionary

MIRACLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A marvellous event manifesting a supernatural act of a divine agent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("miracle" is a kind of...):

event (something that happens at a given place and time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "miracle"):

Assumption ((Christianity) the taking up of the body and soul of the Virgin Mary when her earthly life had ended)

Transfiguration; Transfiguration of Jesus ((New Testament) the sudden emanation of radiance from the person of Jesus)

Instance hyponyms:

Ascension; Ascension of Christ ((New Testament) the rising of the body of Jesus into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection)

Christ's Resurrection; Resurrection; Resurrection of Christ ((New Testament) the rising of Christ on the third day after the Crucifixion)

Derivation:

miraculous (peculiarly fortunate or appropriate; as if by divine intervention)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any amazing or wonderful occurrence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("miracle" is a kind of...):

happening; natural event; occurrence; occurrent (an event that happens)

Derivation:

miraculous (being or having the character of a miracle)

Credits

 Context examples: 

What a love—what a miracle I was!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A great awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a miracle, had found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead man!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Perrault scaled it by a miracle, while François prayed for just that miracle; and with every thong and sled lashing and the last bit of harness rove into a long rope, the dogs were hoisted, one by one, to the cliff crest.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

My dearest child, said her mother, laughing, at this rate you must be in continual terror of MY decay; and it must seem to you a miracle that my life has been extended to the advanced age of forty.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

When she found it, it seemed like a miracle—Jupiter is known for providing miracles.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Each time that she reappeared was a miracle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

To them it had been in truth a miracle.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"This is not thy deception, nor thy witchcraft: it is the work of nature. She was roused, and did—no miracle—but her best."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Women work a good many miracles, and I have a persuasion that they may perform even that of raising the standard of manhood by refusing to echo such sayings.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)