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PRESENTIMENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A feeling of evil to come
Example:
the lawyer had a presentiment that the judge would dismiss the case
Synonyms:
boding; foreboding; premonition; presentiment
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("presentiment" is a kind of...):
apprehension; apprehensiveness; dread (fearful expectation or anticipation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "presentiment"):
shadow (a premonition of something adverse)
presage (a foreboding about what is about to happen)
Context examples:
Everything which had been disconnected before began at once to assume its true place, and I had a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But on the day that was to fulfil my wishes and my destiny, she was melancholy, and a presentiment of evil pervaded her; and perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had promised to reveal to her on the following day.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
A thousand alarming presentiments of evil to her beloved Catherine from this terrific separation must oppress her heart with sadness, and drown her in tears for the last day or two of their being together; and advice of the most important and applicable nature must of course flow from her wise lips in their parting conference in her closet.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Sir Thomas's sending away his son seemed to her so like a parent's care, under the influence of a foreboding of evil to himself, that she could not help feeling dreadful presentiments; and as the long evenings of autumn came on, was so terribly haunted by these ideas, in the sad solitariness of her cottage, as to be obliged to take daily refuge in the dining-room of the Park.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Mr. Micawber evidently had his presentiment on the subject too, but he put it in his tin pot and swallowed it.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Away with evil presentiment!
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Impelled by an irresistible presentiment, you will eagerly advance to it, unlock its folding doors, and search into every drawer—but for some time without discovering anything of importance—perhaps nothing but a considerable hoard of diamonds.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
“I have still a presentiment,” said Mrs. Micawber, pensively shaking her head, “that my family will appear on board, before we finally depart.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
'Il faut que je l'essaie!' cried she, 'et a l'instant meme!' and she rushed out of the room. She is now with Sophie, undergoing a robing process: in a few minutes she will re-enter; and I know what I shall see,—a miniature of Celine Varens, as she used to appear on the boards at the rising of—But never mind that. However, my tenderest feelings are about to receive a shock: such is my presentiment; stay now, to see whether it will be realised.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“I have a presentiment,” said Mrs. Micawber, setting down her tin pot, “that it is a member of my family!”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
