Kairos Definition, Meaning And How To Use It [With Examples]

Kairos is an ancient Greek word that means “the opportune or timely moment, a special time of opportunity”.

In Christianity, this term has been used to describe God’s timing in relation to the salvation and redemption of humankind.

Kairos is also used as a concept in business strategy which encompasses the idea that time can be managed to improve performance.

Kairos is a Greek word that means “the opportune moment.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines kairos as “a favorable, opportune, or decisive time.”

Definition Of Kairos

The term Kairos was first used in the New Testament of the Bible to describe an appointed time for God’s intervention in human affairs.

It also refers to a particular point in time when it is possible to take advantage of an opportunity such as a business deal or spiritual enlightenment.

The Greeks and Romans both had schools devoted to rhetoric and philosophy that emphasized the importance of distinguishing between kairos and chronos (chronology).

To them, this meant identifying moments when events were happening faster than normal: these were opportunities where one could act.

   

Kairos is defined as a moment in which the forces of qi are optimal for an event to occur.

The ancient Greeks also described this concept as “opportune time” and it is believed that it was first introduced by Heraclitus, who said that one cannot step into the same river twice because its waters would never be at rest.

Kairos is just one of the so-called modes of persuasion. When it comes to modes of persuasion, ethos, pathos, and logos are also hugely important. But what are they exactly?

Here’s our video breakdown of ethos, pathos, logos, and what each one means:

Kairos, or opportunities, exist all around us and we must seize them when they present themselves – otherwise they may pass us by forever!

Kairos is the Greek word that translates to “right time” and it relates to timing in many aspects of life.

It can be translated as an opportune moment for something, or a perfect time period for some event. In other words, there are specific times when things happen that we cannot always predict.

History And Etymology For Kairos

The term was first coined by Plato and has origins in ancient Greece. Kairos comes from the Ancient Greek verb kairo, meaning to seize or take hold of time.

káiros is a Greek word that means “the opportune or critical time.” It was derived from the ancient Greek word kairoi which meant “a propitious moment for making an attack, taking advantage of a favorable opportunity.” It has been used to describe the perfect timing of certain events and it can be seen as an analogy for life.

The word also means “opportune moment” or “decisive moment”can be translated to English as a “time right for an action” such as the right time to invest in stocks.

Kairos is used in both contexts because it refers to the opportunity of finding something that you’ve been looking for, but not being able to find it at other times. It has been mentioned in the classics such as Plato’s Apology of Socrates, and it is also found in other ancient texts such as Aristotle’s Rhetoric and The Secret History by Procopius.

The term was first coined by Plato in his dialogue Meno where he uses the idea of kairos to teach philosophy through questioning.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZY-bvVrsTTk

Kairos In Julius Caesar

In his play, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare discusses the concept of kairos. Kairos is a Greek word that means “the opportune or right time;” it can also be translated as “a strategically advantageous moment in which one should strike.”

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the character of Cassius is continually looking for the perfect opportunity to assassinate Caesar.

When Cassius finds out about a plot from Casca that will give him the chance to kill Caesar without raising suspicion, he takes it and stabs him with his dagger in front of many people at a meeting.

In Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, there are many instances of kairos being used in the context of an opportunity for either good or bad.

In the play, Caesar uses his knowledge of kairos to make life-changing decisions such as when he decides not to go into battle at Alesia because he knew that if things went wrong with Cicero, they would have been worse without him

When he knows that Brutus was going to kill him and so lets him come close enough so that he can stab him first; and when Antony says “This was the noblest Roman of them all” near his deathbed.

What Does Kairos Mean?

Kairos is a Greek word, meaning “right time”. It is the right opportunity to use your skills and abilities in a way that will have an impact. Kairos can be translated as:

This moment of time; opportune or crucial point in life

The critical moment for success

   

A decisive instant when one must act

It’s important to know not just what kairos means, but how it applies to you.

One of the most important concepts in Greek philosophy is time, or kairos.

Kairos was a concept developed by Aristotle to describe how we exist in two realms: one where everything has a set value and another where things are up for grabs.

The first realm is that of chronos, which is linear and measurable; it’s what we think of as “time” today. In contrast, kairos is an opportunity with unknown outcomes; it exists outside of chronological order (like now).

“Kairos is a Greek word that means “the right or opportune moment.” It’s used to refer to the perfect time, often in relation to an event.”

What does Kairos mean? The term has been around for thousands of years and has been used by many different cultures throughout history.

Kairos is a Greek word that means “the right, opportune or favorable time.” In its strictest sense, Kairos refers to the point in time when an opportunity is at its peak.

Commercials That Use Kairos

The concept of Kairos also includes an understanding of natural cycles and seasons, which often influences decisions about when to act.

For instance, if you are selling a product that has different demands at different times during the year, then it might be beneficial to offer discounts at certain times of year in order to increase your customer base.

In the last few years, commercials have become more and more aggressive in their use of Kairos.

The idea behind this is that one simple image can create an emotional response in viewers.

Some examples of companies using Kairos are Nike with its slogan “Just Do It” and McDonalds where they show people enjoying life on their commercial while eating their food, or a company named “Kairos” that manufactures high quality watches. Kairos was founded in 1983 by Robbie Robinson, who took the name from the Greek word for “opportunity.”

In his first year of business, he sold only one watch and lost money on it. Kairos went bankrupt in 1992 but returned to business with a new design philosophy just two years later.

This type of marketing has been successful for many companies because it creates an emotional connection between consumers and products or brands, which leads to increase.

Commercials are a big part of our lives. We watch them all day and sometimes all night long, and they are always on in the background when we’re doing something else.

Many commercials have been created with kairos in mind, which is the idea that there’s an “epic moment” or “kairos moment.” This means that if you don’t want to miss your chance to get a product before it sells out or you need to buy some now because it will be gone soon.

You might think this would just be for things like electronics, but many food products also use kairos!

Using Kairos Rhetoric To Divert

The term Kairos is so multidimensional it can also be used as a rhetorical strategy used in public speaking to divert the audience’s attention.

The Kairos rhetoric is a rhetorical form that can be used to divert the tone of an argument. It has been studied by many scholars, and one such scholar, James Jasinski, defines it as “the art of timing.”

The idea behind this strategy is that there are different times in which it’s more appropriate to say certain things.

For example, if someone was trying to persuade you to go outside on a freezing day when you’re sick and tired then they would probably not want to use Kairos rhetoric because it would be too harsh at that time.

In the book Kairos Rhetoric, author Stephen Burt provides a framework for identifying and responding to tone in rhetoric. In doing so, he makes an important distinction between “diverting” and “deflecting” the tonal force of rhetoric.

Diverting is when one person responds to another’s rhetoric with different rhetorical strategies that are still based on shared assumptions.

Deflecting is when we respond to another’s rhetoric with non-rhetorical strategies such as physical violence or ignoring their claims altogether.

Couple with the introduction of social media, the culture of rhetoric has changed drastically. Kairos rhetoric is a form of persuasion that aims to divert an audience from one line of thought to another by manipulating their emotions.

The goal is not just to sway people’s opinions but also to create an emotional response in them.

This type of rhetoric can be found on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter where users are constantly exposed to posts that aim at persuading them into certain behaviors or thoughts about a particular topic.

Kairos – Wrapping Up

We hope this guide to kairos has been useful to you. Now you have everything you need to start using kairos in your video ads, marketing, and other creative work.