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Omen vs Dread - What's the difference?

omen | dread | Related terms |

Omen is a related term of dread.


As nouns the difference between omen and dread

is that omen is (adult male human) while dread is great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.

As a verb dread is

to fear greatly.

As an adjective dread is

terrible; greatly feared.

omen

English

Noun

(en noun) (wikipedia omen)
  • Something which portends or is perceived to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; an augury or foreboding.
    • the ghost's appearance was an ill omen
    a rise in imports might be an omen of recovery
    the egg has, during the span of history, represented mystery, magic, medicine, food and omen
  • * 1856 , (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
    • Day broke. He saw three black hens asleep in a tree. He shuddered, horrified at this omen . Then he promised the Holy Virgin three chasubles for the church, and that he would go barefooted from the cemetery at Bertaux to the chapel of Vassonville.
  • prophetic significance
    • a sign of ill omen

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "omen": good, ill, bad, auspicious, evil, favorable, happy, lucky.

    Synonyms

    * portent, sign, signal, token, forewarning, warning, danger sign, foreshadowing, prediction, forecast, prophecy, harbinger, augury, auspice, presage, straw in the wind, (hand)writing on the wall, indication, hint, foretoken; see also

    Related terms

    * ominous

    Verb

  • To be an omen of.
  • To divine or predict from omens.

    • Synonyms

    * prognosticate, betoken, forecast, foretell, portend, foreshadow, bode, augur, prefigure, predict, auspicate, presage

    See also

    * augury * foreboding * portend * portent

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    dread

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fear greatly.
  • To anticipate with fear.
    • I'm dreading getting the results of the test, as it could decide my whole life.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
    • Day by day, hole by hole our bearing reins were shortened, and instead of looking forward with pleasure to having my harness put on as I used to do, I began to dread it.
  • To be in dread, or great fear.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy i. 29
    • Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

    Derived terms

    * dreadable * dreadworthy

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.
  • * Tillotson
    • the secret dread of divine displeasure
  • * Shakespeare
    • the dread of something after death
  • * '>citation
  • Reverential or respectful fear; awe.
  • * Bible, Genesis ix 2.
    • The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth.
  • * Shakespeare
    • His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, / The attribute to awe and majesty, / Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
  • Somebody or something dreaded.
  • (obsolete) A person highly revered.
  • * Spenser
    • Una, his dear dread
  • (obsolete) Fury; dreadfulness.
    • (Spenser)
  • A Rastafarian.
  • (chiefly, in the plural) dreadlock

    • Adjective

    (er)
  • Terrible; greatly feared.
  • (archaic) Awe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.
  • *

    • See also

    * dreadlocks * dreadnought

    Anagrams

    * * *