presentiment
1
9.1
- noun
- /prɪˈzɛntɪmənt/
:
presentimiento
- I have a terrible presentiment that something bad will happen today.
Examples
-
The thought of eating fish that night with Scott turned in him like a vague presentiment of death.
Fiction book (1991) -
I felt a strange presentiment from the very first that that audacious young savage would come to be hung!
Academic text (2005) -
I just have a presentiment about that part of the house.
Fiction book (1993) -
It's more like having a presentiment.
-
I have a terrible presentiment.
-
For a moment, the presentiment of death laid its cold hand upon the manager's heart.
Blog text (27) -
A presentiment of horror stopped his progress for an instant.
Fiction book (1991) -
I retrieved my neglected diary yesterday because of a presentiment.
Fiction book (1997) -
I feel a sense of terror, a presentiment of death, of being destroyed by something that's inside me.
-
In it, a horrid presentiment gripped me, and I ran down the hall to Giulio's and Gina's room.
Fiction book (2001)
Synonyms
74
7.7
A strong feeling that something bad will happen soon
32
4.4
A feeling of fear or worry that something bad may happen
9
8.0
A strong feeling that something bad is going to happen
1
8.7
A sign or feeling that something bad will happen
1
8.9
A feeling that something bad will happen
How Foreboding
Surface Forms
Morphology
presentiment = sentiment (semi-transparent) = pre + senti + ment
The connection to 'sentiment' as a kind of feeling is recognizable, but the specific meaning of a foreboding or intuition about the future is not fully predictable from ordinary 'sentiment'.
Etymology
Presentiment comes from the Latin parts pre- 'before' and sentire 'to feel', so it literally means a 'feeling before' something happens. That's why a presentiment is an uneasy feeling that something, often bad, is about to occur.