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act of God
noun
- a direct, sudden, and irresistible action of natural forces such as could not reasonably have been foreseen or prevented, as a flood, hurricane, earthquake, or other natural catastrophe.
act of God
noun
- law a sudden and inevitable occurrence caused by natural forces and not by the agency of man, such as a flood, earthquake, or a similar catastrophe
act of God
1- An event beyond human control — e.g., hurricane , earthquake , volcanic eruption ( see volcano ), etc. — for which there is no legal redress. The phrase is frequently used by insurance companies and lawyers.
act of God
2Notes
Word History and Origins
Origin of act of God1
Idioms and Phrases
An unforeseen and uncontrollable natural event, such as a hurricane, fire, or flood. For example, The publisher shall publish the work within twelve months except in case of delay caused by acts of God such as fires or floods or other circumstances beyond its control . It most often appears in legal contracts, where it is used to indemnify one party against a disaster that prevents it from carrying out the contract's terms. [Mid-1800s]Example Sentences
Many voters didn’t directly blame their leaders for a biological nemesis that seemed like an act of god, but they did blame their leaders for an economic nemesis that seemed all too human in its origin.
The white smoke can only go up when one of the cardinals receives a 72-vote majority, and shepherding this bunch of squabbling, power-hungry backstabbers to that number is going to require a herculean feat of delicate diplomacy, maybe even an act of God or two.
“It took an act of denial to make me go in,” he wrote about the locale, “and it took an act of God to keep me there. Time and again my eyes would slide over to that spot on the floor where the beacon came crashing down.”
But since the house was destroyed by an act of God, a review isn’t required, according to Wheeler.
Assembling the data she needed to understand trends in overdoses and treatment took “almost an act of God,” she said, and happened only because Dr. Wen and her team had a near-singular focus on the topic.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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