Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

English

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — Conquest, War, Famine & Death (1887) by Viktor Vasnetsov

Alternative forms

• Four Horsemen, Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Proper noun

the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

1. (biblical) Four beings in Revelation 6:1–8 that bring about the Apocalypse, each embodied as a horseman riding a different-colored horse that represents a different aspect of the Apocalypse.
   • 2015 May 4, Randall Munroe, xkcd (webcomic), Degree-Off:

     "This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country. The heroes of my field have slain one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. While the heroes of your field gathered in the desert to create a new one."

2. (idiomatic) Harbingers of doom; several signs which combine to imply the imminence of literal or figurative destruction.
   • 2008, Shayna M. Steinfeld, Bruce R. Steinfeld, The family lawyer's guide to bankruptcy: forms, tips, and strategies, page iii:

     Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,... Here and now those dread specters are: Divorce, Illness, Unemployment and Overspending. These are now the harbingers of economic doom […]

   • 2006, Ronald Brian Adler, Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, Russell F. Proctor, Interplay: the process of interpersonal communication, page 305:

     [One authority] has identified four types of communication, which he calls the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," that are signs of a marriage having problems […]

Coordinate terms

• white rider, White Rider: (Conquest or Pestilence)
• red rider, Red Rider: (War)
• black rider, Black Rider: (Famine)
• pale rider, Pale Rider: (Death)

Translations

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Arabic: فرسان رؤيا يوحنا الأربعَة pl Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can Catalan: Quatre Genets de l'Apocalipsi Chinese: Mandarin: 啟示錄中的四騎士／启示录中的四骑士 (Qǐshìlù zhōng de sì-jìshì) Czech: Apokalyptičtí jezdci, Čtyři apokalyptičtí jezdci Danish: de fire apokalyptiske ryttere c Dutch: de vier ruiters van de Apocalyps Esperanto: kvar rajdantoj de la apokalipso, kvar apokalipsaj rajdantoj Finnish: Ilmestyskirjan neljä ratsastajaa, Ilmestyskirjan ratsastajat, Apokalyptiset ratsastajat French: Quatre Cavaliers de l’Apocalypse m pl German: Apokalyptische Reiter, vier apokalyptischen Reiter Greek: Τέσσερεις Καβαλάρηδες της Αποκάλυψης m pl (Téssereis Kavalárides tis Apokálypsis) Hebrew: אַרְבַּעַת פָּרָשֵׁי הָאָפּוֹקָלִיפְּסָה m pl (Arbaat Parashei Ha-apokalippsah) Hungarian: Az Apokalipszis négy lovasa Icelandic: please add this translation if you can Indonesian: Empat Penunggang Kuda Akhir Zaman Italian: Cavalieri dell'Apocalisse m Japanese: 黙示録の四騎士 (mokushiroku no yon-kishi) Korean: 묵시록의 네 기사 (muksirog-ui ne gisa) Latin: quattuor equitēs apocalypticī m pl Navajo: náhodeesdzáago dįltʼéego łį́į́ʼ bił níjééʼ Norwegian: Bokmål: please add this translation if you can Persian: please add this translation if you can Polish: czterej jeźdźcy Apokalipsy m pl Portuguese: quatro Cavaleiros do Apocalipse m pl Romanian: please add this translation if you can Russian: Четы́ре вса́дника Апока́липсиса m pl (Četýre vsádnika Apokálipsisa) Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can Slovak: please add this translation if you can Spanish: cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis m pl Swedish: Apokalypsens fyra ryttare c pl Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: Mahşerin Dört Atlısı Ukrainian: Чоти́ри ве́ршники Апока́ліпсису m pl (Čotýry véršnyky Apokálipsysu) Vietnamese: Tứ kị sĩ Khải Huyền

signs which combine to imply the imminence of destruction

Finnish: tuomiopäivän merkit pl

Further reading

• Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia