Miracle vs Sign - What's the difference?
miracle | sign |
A wonderful event occurring in the physical world attributed to supernatural powers.
A fortunate outcome that prevails despite overwhelming odds against it.
* 1966 November 25, "A Great Document Made by Wisdom and Luck", in Life , volume 61, number 22, page 13:
* 1993 , Hatch N. Gardner and Frank H. Winter, P-51 Mustang (Turner Publishing Company), page 78:
* 2003 , Eric Lionel Jones, The European miracle: environments, economies, and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia (Cambridge University Press), page 218:
An awesome and exceptional example of something
* 1847 , Honoré de Balzac, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life , page 323:
* 2008 , Joseph R. Conlin, The American Past: A Survey of American History (Cengage Learning), page 670:
(sometimes, also used uncountably) A visible indication.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.}}
A clearly visible object, generally flat, bearing a short message in words or pictures.
* Macaulay
A traffic sign.
A meaningful gesture.
Any of several specialized non-alphabetic symbols.
(astrology) An astrological sign.
(mathematics) Positive or negative polarity.
A specific gesture or motion used to communicate by those with speaking or hearing difficulties; now specifically, a linguistic unit in sign language equivalent to word in spoken languages.
*, II.12:
* 2007 , Marcel Danesi, The Quest for Meaning :
(uncountable) Sign language in general.
An omen.
(medicine) A property of the body that indicates a disease and, unlike a symptom, is unlikely to be noticed by the patient.
A military emblem carried on a banner or standard.
To make a mark
#
#:The Queen signed her letter with the regal signet.
# To mark, to put or leave a mark on.
#*1726 , Elijah Fenton, The Odyssey of Homer :
#*:Meantime revolving in his thoughtful mind / The scar, with which his manly knee was sign'd […].
# To validate or ratify (a document) by writing one's signature on it.
#*c. 1597 , (William Shakespeare), The Merchant of Venice :
#*:Enquire the Iewes house out, giue him this deed, / And let him signe it […].
# More generally, to write one's signature on (something) as a means of identification etc.
#
#:Just sign your name at the bottom there.
#:I received a letter from some woman who signs herself ‘Mrs Trellis’.
# To write one's signature.
# To finalise a contractual agreement to work for a given sports team, record label etc.
#*2011 , The Guardian , (headline), 18 Oct 2011:
#*:Agents say Wales back Gavin Henson has signed for Cardiff Blues.
# To engage (a sports player, musician etc.) in a contract.
To make the sign of the cross
# To bless (someone or something) with the sign of the cross; to mark with the sign of the cross.
#* Book of Common Prayer
#*:We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the cross.
#*1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society 2012, p. 34:
#*:At the baptismal ceremony the child was […] signed with the cross in holy water.
# (reflexive) To cross oneself.
#*1855 , (Robert Browning), Men and Women :
#*:Shaking a fist at him with one fierce arm, / Signing himself with the other because of Christ.
To indicate
# To communicate using a gesture or signal.
#* Sir Walter Scott:
# To communicate using gestures to (someone).
#:He signed me that I should follow him through the doorway.
# To use sign language.
# To furnish (a road etc.) with signs.
As nouns the difference between miracle and sign
is that miracle is a wonderful event occurring in the physical world attributed to supernatural powers while sign is (sometimes|also used uncountably) a visible indication.As a verb sign is
to make a mark.miracle
English
(wikipedia miracle)Noun
(en noun)- Many religious beliefs are based on miracles .
- An example of a miracle associated with Muhammad is the splitting of the moon.
- Secondly, it was a miracle that a document hammered out with such difficulty, satisfying very few of its authors completely and satisfying some of them very little, would turn out to be the most successful political invention in history.
- It was a miracle that I survived that ditching in the high waves because I had my seat belt and shoulder harness unbuckled in anticipation of bailing out.
- Seen in this light it was a miracle of economic history that Europe was able to undertake so much higher a proportion of its expansion overseas, and secure a massive injection of resources and big markets without a commensurate growth in her numbers.
- The home of our kings, over which you tread as you pace the immense hall known as the Salle des Pas-Perdus, was a miracle of architecture.
- It was a miracle' of engineering that made possible, with the cheap electricity the dam generated, another kind of ' miracle : the bizarre, superilluminated city of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Derived terms
* miraculous * miraculousness * miraculouslyAnagrams
* * ----sign
English
(wikipedia sign)Etymology 1
From (etyl) signe, from (etyl) ; root uncertain.Noun
(en noun)- The shops were, therefore, distinguished by painted signs , which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the streets.
- And why not, as well as our dumbe men dispute, argue and tell histories by signes ?
- In American Sign Language (ASL), for instance, the sign for 'catch' is formed with one hand (in the role of agent) moving across the body (an action) to grasp the forefinger of the other hand (the patient).
- (Milton)
Derived terms
* air sign * astrological sign * earth sign * fire sign * high sign * Indian sign * minus sign * neon sign * plus sign * road sign * sign language * sign of life * star sign * street sign * traffic sign * vital sign * water signEtymology 2
From (etyl) (seigner), (seiner) et al., (etyl) signer et al., and their source, (etyl) ; see Etymology 1, above. Compare (sain).Verb
(en verb)- I forgot to sign that letter to my aunt.
- Please sign on the dotted line.
- It was a great month. I managed to sign three major players.
- I signed to Browne to make his retreat.