Adjacent Words

Omen definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

O'MEN, n. [L. omen; Heb. an augur.]
A sign or indication of some future event; a prognostic. Superstition and ignorance multiply omens; philosophy and truth reject all omens, except such as may be called causes of the events. Without a miracle, how can one event be the omen of another with which it has no connection?

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a sign of something about to happen; "he looked for an omen before going into battle" [syn: omen, portent, presage, prognostic, prognostication, prodigy] v
1: indicate by signs; "These signs bode bad news" [syn: bode, portend, auspicate, prognosticate, omen, presage, betoken, foreshadow, augur, foretell, prefigure, forecast, predict]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin omin-, omen Date: 1582 an occurrence or phenomenon believed to portend a future event ; augury

Britannica Concise

Observed phenomenon that is interpreted as signifying good or bad fortune. The many and varied omens that the ancients noted included lightning, cloud movements, the flights of birds, and the paths of sacred animals. Each type of omen was gauged according to specific meaningful characteristics, such as the kinds of bird in flight or the direction of flight in relation to the observer.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 an occurrence or object regarded as portending good or evil. 2 prophetic significance (of good omen). --v.tr. (usu. in passive) portend; foreshow. Derivatives: omened adj. (also in comb.). Etymology: L omen ominis

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Omen O"men, n. [L. omen, the original form being osmen, according to Varro.] An occurrence supposed to portend, or show the character of, some future event; any indication or action regarded as a foreshowing; a foreboding; a presage; an augury. Bid go with evil omen, and the brand Of infamy upon my name. --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Omen O"men, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Omened; p. pr. & vb. n. Omening.] To divine or to foreshow by signs or portents; to have omens or premonitions regarding; to predict; to augur; as, to omen ill of an enterprise. The yet unknown verdict, of which, however, all omened the tragical contents. --Sir W. Scott.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(omens) If you say that something is an omen, you think it indicates what is likely to happen in the future and whether it will be good or bad. Could this at last be a good omen for peace? N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Prognostic, presage, augury, foreboding, portent, auspice, sign.

Moby Thesaurus

actuarial prediction, adumbrate, adumbration, apocalypse, augur, augury, auspicate, auspice, betoken, betokening, betokenment, bode, boding, danger sign, early symptom, falling barometer, forebode, foreboding, forecast, forecasting, foreshadow, foreshadowing, foreshow, foreshowing, foresight, foretelling, foretoken, foretokening, forewarning, gathering clouds, guesswork, harbinger, have a hunch, have an intimation, high sign, improbability, indicant, indication, portend, portent, precursor, predict, prediction, prefiguration, prefigurement, prefiguring, preindication, preliminary sign, premonition, premonitory shiver, premonitory sign, premonitory symptom, presage, presaging, presentiment, preshowing, presignifying, probability, prodroma, prodrome, prognosis, prognostic, prognostication, promise, prophecy, prophesying, prospectus, quarantine flag, red flag, red light, shadow, shadow forth, sign, skull and crossbones, soothsay, speculation, statistical prediction, storm petrel, stormy petrel, symptom, thundercloud, thunderhead, token, tokening, type, vaticination, warning sign, warning signal, yellow flag, yellow jack