Forewarn vs Augury - What's the difference?
forewarn | augury |
To warn in advance.
*{{quote-book, year=1913, author=
, title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad
, chapter=4
* “ A divination based on the appearance and behaviour of animals.
(by extension) An omen or prediction; a foreboding; a prophecy.
* (Edgar Allan Poe)
An event that is experienced as indicating important things to come.
*{{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne
, title=Well Tackled!
, chapter=2
As a verb forewarn
is to warn in advance.As a noun augury is
a divination based on the appearance and behaviour of animals.forewarn
English
Verb
(en verb)citation, passage=“I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I??? Why didn’t I telephone??? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned , should escape. …”}}
Usage notes
Some discourage this use, finding the term redundant, as a warning is necessarily in advance. However, considering the word's continued presence in the English language ever since the time of the Anglo-Saxons (when it was first coined), the legitimacy of such complaints is somewhat questionable.The dictionary of disagreeable English, Robert Hartwell Fiske, 2006,p. 160Additionally, many others argue that forewarn' is simple emphasis (rather than redundancy), has connotations of “well in advance” (“Watch out!” and “Watch your head!” are warnings, but not forewarnings), and has connotations of “''correct'' prediction”, as in foretell. Both '''forewarn''' and (term) are well-established words, with ' forewarn being attested since 1330.
Derived terms
* forewarned is forearmedReferences
Forewarning signs”, The Grammarphobia Blog, May 8, 2007
augury
English
Noun
(auguries)- In Wordsworth's first preludings there is but a dim foreboding of the creator of an era. From Southey's early poems, a safer augury might have been drawn.
citation, passage=Evidently he did not mean to be a mere figurehead, but to carry on the old tradition of Wilsthorpe's; and that was considered to be a good thing in itself and an augury for future prosperity.}}