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Omen vs Harbinger - What's the difference?

omen | harbinger | Synonyms |

Harbinger is a synonym of omen.



As nouns the difference between omen and harbinger

is that omen is something which portends or is perceived to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; an augury or foreboding while harbinger is a person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.

As verbs the difference between omen and harbinger

is that omen is to be an omen of while harbinger is to announce; to be a harbinger of.

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

    * ----

    harbinger

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.
  • * Landor
    • I knew by these harbingers who were coming.
  • (obsolete) One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when travelling, to provide and prepare lodgings.
    • (Fuller)

    Synonyms

    * forewarning, herald, omen, premonition, sign, signal, prophet

    External links

    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To announce; to be a harbinger of.

    • Synonyms

    * herald

    References

    *

    See also

    *bellwether