premonition
Pluralpremonitions
- 1A strong feeling, dream or vision that something, usually something bad, is going to happen.
Moments before the phone rang, he had a sudden premonition of bad news.
Despite the losing streak, she had a premonition that this would finally be their year.
UsageFollowed by of or a that clause: a premonition of danger, a premonition that something was wrong.
Similarforeboding, hunch, feeling, presentiment, intuition
Note
Its Latin parts spell out a warning given in advance, which is why it leans toward trouble: it came into English around 1533 through Anglo-Norman from Ecclesiastical Latin praemonitiō, from prae, "before", and moneō, "to warn", the verb behind monitor. It takes of or a that-clause, as when the narrator of Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) has "a premonition of approaching evil".
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- Premonition first appeared in English around 1533. en.wiktionary.org
- The word came through Anglo-Norman from Ecclesiastical Latin praemonitiō, meaning a forewarning. en.wiktionary.org
- Its Latin elements mean before and warn, together expressing advance warning. en.wiktionary.org
- Monitor derives from the same Latin verb. en.wiktionary.org
- Agatha Christie wrote The Mysterious Affair at Styles. en.wikisource.org
- The novel's first publication year was 1920. en.wikisource.org
- The quoted words occur in the narrator's account in Chapter 1. en.wikisource.org
- 2Anything that hints in advance at a development or event still to come.
The early skirmishes along the border were a premonition of the war that followed.
Looking back, the weak sales of that first model were a premonition of the company's long decline.
UsageOften seen in hindsight: something was a premonition of what followed.
Similarsign, harbinger, portent, omen
Note
The Latin root means "to warn beforehand", and here the warning comes from events rather than from anyone's mind. Unlike the gut feeling, this premonition is usually recognized only in hindsight, so it often sits in sentences with looking back or was a premonition of. It belongs to fairly literary prose, close to foreshadowing, harbinger and portent.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The Latin root means to warn beforehand. en.wiktionary.org
Practice
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Origin
The word is first used around 1533. Latin prae ("before", English pre-) and moneō ("to warn", source of English monitor) formed praemoneō, which lies behind Ecclesiastical Latin praemonitiōnem ("a forewarning"). That passed into Anglo-Norman as premunition and then into English. Compare the Germanic word forewarning.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- The first use of premonition dates to around 1533. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin prae means before and is the source of English pre-. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin moneō means to warn and is the ultimate source of English monitor. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin praemoneō was formed from prae and moneō. en.wiktionary.org
- Praemoneō is the source of praemonitiō, whose accusative form is praemonitiōnem. en.wiktionary.org
- Ecclesiastical Latin praemonitiōnem means a forewarning and passed through Anglo-Norman premunition into English. en.wiktionary.org
- Forewarning is a comparable word of Germanic origin. en.wiktionary.org