final reckoning

English

WOTD – 31 December 2023

Etymology

From final +‎ reckoning (“act or occasion of accounting to God after death for one’s conduct in life”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfaɪnl̩ ˈɹɛk(ə)nɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌfaɪn(ə)l ˈɹɛk(ə)nɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: fin‧al reck‧on‧ing

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Noun

final reckoning (countable and uncountable, plural final reckonings)

1. (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) Synonym of judgement day (“the final trial of all humankind, both the living and the dead, by God expected to take place at the end of the world, when each is rewarded or punished according to their merits”)

   Synonyms: apocalypse, Armageddon, day of judgment, doomsday, Final Judgment, Last Judgment

2. (figurative) The act of assessing the overall merits of something.
   • 2021 July 6, Phil McNulty, “Italy Beat Spain on Penalties: ‘Pure Theatre as Italy Present Formidable Obstacle in Final’”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 2023-04-14:

     In the final reckoning, Spain paid the price for the Achilles heel that troubled them in the early stages of this competition, namely an inability to crown glorious passing and approach play with an end product.

Translations

synonym of judgement day — see judgement day

act of assessing the overall merits of something

Finnish: tilinteko Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

References

1. “reckoning, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2023.

Further reading

• Last Judgment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia