Omen vs Foretell - What's the difference?
omen | foretell |
Something which portends or is perceived to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; an augury or foreboding.
* 1856 , (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
prophetic significance
To be an omen of.
To divine or predict from omens.
To predict; to tell the future before it occurs; to prophesy.
* Alexander Pope
* C. Middleton
As verbs the difference between omen and foretell
is that omen is to be an omen of while foretell is to predict; to tell the future before it occurs; to prophesy.As a noun omen
is something which portends or is perceived to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; an augury or foreboding.omen
English
Noun
(en noun) (wikipedia omen)- 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
- 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.
- 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 alsoVerb
Synonyms
* prognosticate, betoken, forecast, foretell, portend, foreshadow, bode, augur, prefigure, predict, auspicate, presageSee also
* augury * foreboding * portend * portentExternal links
* *Anagrams
* ----foretell
English
Verb
- Deeds then undone my faithful tongue foretold .
- Prodigies, foretelling the future eminence and lustre of his character.