# Looking for an obscure synonym for "premonition" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970 "2009-02-15T17:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/1 "2009-02-15T17:56:24Z")
Another Skald’s-stupid-novel thread, if you want to avoid it for that reason. I’m not trying to remember a word I already know; I’m searching for a word I hope exists. It’s for a line of dialogue, which currently goes something like this: - Character A: “You should get a doctor to look at your ankle very soon.” Character B: “Have you had a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, my friend? Because I’m not in any pain.” Character C: “What does \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ mean?” \* I currently have the word “presentiment” in the blank, but I don’t like it." Here are the criteria for whatever word will replace it: 1. The word be a good synonym for premonition. 2. It must be obscure enough so that a precocious, quick-witted little girl who devours books like Lord of the Rings and Gormenghast, and who delights in expanding her vocabulary, can still reasonably not have encountered it in the aforementioned sense. 3. It must be so constructed so that said little girl will also not be easily able to infer its meaning by dissection. Put another way, I wish to avoid words with Latin roots if possible, because a really smart kid, hearing the word “presentiment,” is going to quickly deduce the meaning from the context and word elements. 4. It must be English. Old English or Middle English is fine, but nothing German, Finnish, French, et cetera. Right now I’m torn between the words “prenotion” and “weird.” The former bothers me for the same reason as “presentiment”; the latter because it’s, well, weird. 😃 And it means “fate, destiny; ill fortune” more than it means “premonition” anyway. Anybody got a better idea? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ “Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey … The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/2 "2009-02-15T17:58:34Z")
_foreshadowing_, maybe Si ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/3 "2009-02-15T18:30:08Z")
augury ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/4 "2009-02-15T19:21:00Z")
portent presage ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/5 "2009-02-15T19:49:43Z")
prognostication [adumbration](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/adumbration) [vaticination](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vaticination) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/6 "2009-02-15T20:17:36Z")
_Omen_? Not sure if that’s obscure enough, but it fits and isn’t a very commonplace word. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/7 "2009-02-15T20:19:31Z")
‘Omen’ isn’t obscure to anyone who’s read the Lord of the Rings. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/8 "2009-02-15T20:22:05Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > _Omen_? Not sure if that’s obscure enough, but it fits and isn’t a very commonplace word. It’s a plot point that the kid’s a brain, and that she’s read every fantasy novel she can put her hands on. It’s inconceivable that she wouldn’t know the words omen, augury, presage, and particularly foreshadowing. It only matters because I need an odd word so Characters B & C can have a two-line conversation on why you should never ask precognitives for advice. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/9 "2009-02-15T20:37:12Z")
Osteomanty, divination by means of bones, might be made to fit in with the ankle bit. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/10 "2009-02-15T20:43:09Z")
“You feeling delphic, my friend? I’m not in pain.” Or cassandric, or pick the oracle that’s obscure enough to fit. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/11 "2009-02-15T21:30:57Z")
How about some form of “divine”? “Divine” has two meanings & would be confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/12 "2009-02-15T21:35:15Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > How about some form of “divine”? “Divine” has two meanings & would be confusing. That’s not bad. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/13 "2009-02-16T00:21:19Z")
_Foreboding_, _prognostic_, _prognostication_, _prescience_. _Harbinger_ doesn’t quite fit as the dialogue is written, but it’s a good word. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/14 "2009-02-16T00:29:41Z")
Pretty sure you could find some good ones if you go the Shakespearean route, but I can’t think of any of the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/15 "2009-02-16T00:50:20Z")
hunch vision warning insight intimation Nah, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/16 "2009-02-16T00:56:47Z")
Foretelling. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/17 "2009-02-16T01:19:37Z")
extrasensory event/perception clairvoyance revelation I personally liked augury for the stated purpose. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/18 "2009-02-16T03:39:27Z")
Prudence, as noted in the OED’s 3d definition as having the meaning of foresight, with citations to 1420, 1513, and 1619: **a1420** LYDGATE _Troyyes Bk._ (Augustus A.4) IV. 4529 Prudence…hath prouyded at a regne in hit silfe deuided Shal recurles tourne wilde and wast. **a1513** J. IRLAND _Meroure of Wyssdome_ f. 320, in _Dict. Older Sc. Tongue_ (at cited word), Als lang as the Romanis…saw be thar prudens the thingis to cum as in a merour. **a1619** M. FOTHERBY _Atheomastix_ (1622) II. xi. §6. 320 Then must it be, either by Chance, or by Prudence. Providence also carried a similar meaning around the fifteenth century. Others: Presagement Presagition Previdence Prevoyance Pronoia Vesyness ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/19 "2009-02-16T10:36:02Z")
Vision ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-obscure-synonym-for-premonition/485970/20 "2009-02-17T16:37:32Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Prudence, as noted in the OED’s 3d definition as having the meaning of foresight, with citations to 1420, 1513, and 1619: > **a1420** LYDGATE _Troyyes Bk._ (Augustus A.4) IV. 4529 Prudence..hath prouyded at a regne in hit silfe deuided Shal recurles tourne wilde and wast. **a1513** J. IRLAND _Meroure of Wyssdome_ f. 320, in _Dict. Older Sc. Tongue_ (at cited word), Als lang as the Romanis..saw be thar prudens the thingis to cum as in a merour. **a1619** M. FOTHERBY _Atheomastix_ (1622) II. xi. §6. 320 Then must it be, either by Chance, or by Prudence. > > Providence also carried a similar meaning around the fifteenth century. > Others: > Presagement > Presagition > Previdence > Prevoyance > Pronoia > Vesyness Thanks very much, **tomndebb**. You provided exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for.