What does "apophatic" mean?

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

How do you pronounce "apophatic"?

Pronounced //apə(ʊ)ˈfatɪk//.

//apə(ʊ)ˈfatɪk// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Adjective

1
Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions.
"For him, the assertions of Palamas ran counter to the apophatic insistence in Pseudo-Dionysius that God was unknowable in his essence."
2
That passively defines a thing by describing what is not characteristic of it. broadly
"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—[…]"

Adjective

1
of or relating to the belief that God can be known to humans only in terms of what He is not (such as ‘God is unknowable’) wordnet

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

From Ancient Greek ἀποφατικός (apophatikós, “negative”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.