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The meaning and origin of the expression: Deus ex machina

Deus ex machina

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Deus ex machina'?

Something or someone that comes in the nick of time to solve a difficulty, especially in works of fiction.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Deus ex machina'?

This Latin term is a translation from the original Greek and owes its origin to Greek drama. 'Deus ex machina', literally 'god from the machina’ refers to the machina - the device by which gods were suspended above the stage in the Greek theatre. This began being used in English texts from around the middle of the 17th century.

John Sergeant, in Solid philosophy asserted against the fancies of the Ideists, 1697:

"Nor is it at all allowable in Philosophy, to bring in a Deus è Machiná at every turn, when our selves are at a loss to give a Reason for our Thesis."

In the Greek dramas a common plot device was to lower the gods into the action to sort things out and bring about a tidy conclusion. The modern-day version would be the cavalry riding over the horizon, or some character awaking and realizing the previous action had all been a bad dream.

The term is used these days as an implied criticism of implausible happy endings when the intervention of some improbable fairy godmother-like figure is considered too easy or clichéd.

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

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