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fortune telling

fortune telling

5 5.8
A way of finding out what will happen to someone in the future using mysterious methods
  • noun
  • /ˈfɔːrtʃən ˈtɛlɪŋ/
translation icon : adivinación
  • At the fair, a booth offered fortune telling with tarot cards and crystal balls.
  • fortune telling booth
  • fortune-telling book
  • just fortune telling

The negative would be fortune telling, over generalizing, rigidity or right fighting, confusion and emotional reasoning.

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Examples

  • Hers was a specific kind of fortune telling.

  • Oh, let's get our fortunes told, Jennifer!

  • I must have my fortune told.

  • - I want my fortune told.

  • "Fortune telling is an art," Aunt Sally had taught me.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • While men may have been charged more often with practicing medicine without a license, women were more frequently charged with fortune telling.

    Academic text (2007)
  • It seems your fortune-telling skills are not as good as you thought.

  • Spring Ryan was raised in the carnival by her get-rich-quick father and her fortune-telling mother.

    Blog text (22)
  • Begging was often combined with other forms of devalued labor, including peddling small items, manual labor, seasonal construction work, petty crime, and providing services such as mourning or fortune telling.

    Academic text (2009)
  • For those who subscribed to this belief system, fortune telling not only provided individuals with a modicum of control over otherwise oppressive and uncontrollable situations, it also offered a source of power and knowledge not possessed by the ruling class.

    Academic text (2007)

Synonyms

divination
vsfortune telling
8 9.9

The act of trying to find the future using magic or signs

focuses specifically on predicting a person's future rather than broader hidden knowledge
foretelling
vsfortune telling
1 6.8

To say what will happen in the future

is specifically a supernatural or mystical practice for gaining future insight
fortunetelling
vsfortune telling
1 6.5

To tell someone about their future, often for money, for example using cards or reading palms

focuses on supernatural insight rather than on payment or commercial service
soothsaying
vsfortune telling
  • Archaic
9.9

Saying what will happen in the future using signs or magic

is the practical prediction of a person's future rather than an art form

How Credible

prophecy
142 6.2
fortune telling
5 5.8
divination
8 9.9

Surface Forms

Morphology

fortune + telling

The meaning is directly and predictably derived from 'fortune' (a person’s future or lot) plus 'telling' (the act of saying or recounting), so 'fortune telling' literally means telling or predicting someone's future. This is a compositional noun phrase that follows common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Fortune telling shows the simple image of someone telling a fortune, using cards, palms, or stars to say what might happen. That's why fortune telling means 'predicting a person's future'.