epochal

From epoch +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): [ˈiː.pɒk.əl]
• (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈɛ.pək.əl]

epochal (comparative more epochal, superlative most epochal)

1. Of or pertaining to an epoch.
2. (figurative) Highly important or significant; monumental, epoch-making.
   • 1954 May, John W. Grant, “A Railway Requiem”, in Railway Magazine, page 351:

     But they were the great epochal design; their influence on locomotive development is felt to this day and their niche in railway history is secure.

   • 2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 250:

     It had been an epochal decade for cancer epidemiology, but equally, an epochal decade for tobacco.

• cephalo-

• IPA^(key): /epɔˈχaːl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Rhymes: -aːl

epochal (strong nominative masculine singular epochaler, comparative epochaler, superlative am epochalsten)

1. epochal
   • 1924, Thomas Mann, Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain], volume 1, Berlin: S. Fischer, page 30:

     „Epochal!“ sagte Hans Castorp. „Epochal für die Entwicklung unserer Schiffahrt, – gar nicht zu überschätzen. Wir setzen fünfzig Millionen als sofortige einmalige Ausgabe dafür ins Budget, und du kannst überzeugt sein, wir wissen genau, was wir tun.“

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “epochal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “epochal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon