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Taboo vs Omen - What's the difference?

taboo | omen |

As nouns the difference between taboo and omen

is that taboo is an inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion while omen is something which portends or is perceived to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; an augury or foreboding.

As verbs the difference between taboo and omen

is that taboo is to mark as taboo while omen is to be an omen of.

As an adjective taboo

is excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

taboo

English

(wikipedia taboo)

Alternative forms

* tabu

Noun

(en noun)
  • An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.
  • *
  • * 1974 , (Lawrence Durrell), Monsieur , Faber & Faber 1992, p. 213:
    • The sharp differentiation of the sexes in our culture was shaped most probably by monogamy and monosexuality and their tabus .
  • (in Polynesia) Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.
    • Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.
  • Culturally forbidden.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To mark as taboo.
  • To ban.
  • To avoid.

    • Anagrams

    *

    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

    * ----