AUGUR

augur, auspex

(noun) (ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy

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

(verb) indicate, as with a sign or an omen; “These signs bode bad news”

augur

(verb) predict from an omen

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

augur (plural augurs)

A diviner who foretells events by the behaviour of birds or other animals, or by signs derived from celestial phenomena, or unusual occurrences.

(Ancient Rome) An official who interpreted omens before the start of public events.

Verb

augur (third-person singular simple present augurs, present participle auguring, simple past and past participle augured)

To foretell events; to exhibit signs of future events.

To anticipate, to foretell, or to indicate a favorable or an unfavorable issue.

Source: Wiktionary


Au"gur, n. Etym: [L. Of uncertain origin: the first part of the word is perh. fr. L. avis bird, and the last syllable, gur, equiv. to the Skr. gar to call, akin to L. garrulus garrulous.]

1. (Rom. Antiq.)

Definition: An official diviner who foretold events by the singing, chattering, flight, and feeding of birds, or by signs or omens derived from celestial phenomena, certain appearances of quadrupeds, or unusual occurrences.

2. One who foretells events by omens; a soothsayer; a diviner; a prophet. Augur of ill, whose tongue was never found Without a priestly curse or boding sound. Dryden.

Au"gur, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Augured (; p. pr. & vb. n. Auguring.]

1. To conjecture from signs or omens; to prognosticate; to foreshow. My auguring mind assures the same success. Dryden.

2. To anticipate, to foretell, or to indicate a favorable or an unfavorable issue; as, to augur well or ill.

Au"gur, v. t.

Definition: To predict or foretell, as from signs or omens; to betoken; to presage; to infer. It seems to augur genius. Sir W. Scott. I augur everything from the approbation the proposal has met with. J. F. W. Herschel.

Syn.

– To predict; forebode; betoken; portend; presage; prognosticate; prophesy; forewarn.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 May 2025

DIRECTIONALITY

(noun) the property of being directional or maintaining a direction; “the directionality of written English is from left to right”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the largest coffee shop is the Al Masaa Café, which has 1,050 seats. The coffee shop was inaugurated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 13 August 2014.

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