#6: Armageddon

Good vs. Evil. The Final Battle. The Ultimate Conflict.

This story, still thrilling, is as old as Armageddon.

The word appears only once in the Bible ("Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon"—Revelation 16:16). Armageddon names the site (or time) of the conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil.

These days, the word can be applied to any vast decisive confrontation. For example, the battle over health care legislation was dubbed an Armageddon.

And of course the word's end-of-the-world implications can also be seen, winking, in winter storms labeled snowmageddon.