Standard Lemma guide

premonition

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌpriːməˈnɪʃən/
  • /ˌprɛ-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • prĕm'ə-
  • prē'mə-nĭshʹən
  • rhymes with -ɪʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: P R EH0 M AH0 N IH1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A clairvoyant or clairaudient experience, such as a dream, which resonates with some event in the future.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vision

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A strong intuition that something is about to happen (usually something negative, but not exclusively).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bad feeling, foreboding, gut feeling, hunch, second sight

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an early warning about a future event

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: forewarning

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: warning

4

noun

Meaning 4

a feeling of evil to come

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a steadily escalating sense of foreboding
  • the lawyer had a presentiment that the judge would dismiss the case

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: foreboding, presentiment, boding

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: apprehension, apprehensiveness, dread

Narrower terms: shadow, presage

History

Etymology

First use appears c. 1533. From Anglo-Norman premunition, from Ecclesiastical Latin praemonitiōnem (“a forewarning”), form of praemonitiō, from Latin praemonitus, past participle of praemoneō, from prae (“before”) (English pre-) + moneō (“to warn”) (from which English monitor). Compare Germanic forewarning.

Across languages

Translations

69 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: رُؤْيَة (ruʔya) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Bulgarian: предчувствие (predčuvstvie) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Catalan: premonició — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Finnish: enneuni — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Finnish: enne — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • French: prémonition — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Greek: προαίσθημα (proaísthima) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Hindi: अंतर्ज्ञान (antarjñān) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Icelandic: fyrirboði — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Icelandic: viðvörun — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Indonesian: pertanda — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Italian: premonizione — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Latin: praemonitus — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Latin: praesāgium — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Macedonian: пре́тчувство (prétčuvstvo) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Macedonian: предосету́вање (predosetúvanje) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Macedonian: у́сета (úseta) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Norwegian Bokmål: syn — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Norwegian Bokmål: varsel — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Portuguese: premonição — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Romanian: premoniție — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Russian: предчу́вствие (predčúvstvije) — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Serbo-Croatian: предосећање — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Serbo-Croatian: predosećanje — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Slovene: slutnja — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Spanish: premonición — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Swedish: varsel — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Swedish: förebud — clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
  • Arabic: نُبُوءَة (nubūʔa) — strong intuition
  • Arabic: حَدْس (ḥads) — strong intuition
  • Bulgarian: интуиция (intuicija) — strong intuition
  • Catalan: pressentiment — strong intuition
  • Catalan: presagi — strong intuition
  • Catalan: premonició — strong intuition
  • Chinese Mandarin: 預感 /预感 (yùgǎn) — strong intuition
  • Czech: předtucha — strong intuition
  • Dutch: voorgevoel — strong intuition
  • Esperanto: antaŭsento — strong intuition
  • Finnish: ennakkoaavistus — strong intuition
  • Finnish: etiäinen — strong intuition
  • French: prémonition — strong intuition
  • German: Vorahnung — strong intuition
  • Hungarian: előérzet — strong intuition
  • Indonesian: firasat — strong intuition
  • Italian: premonizione — strong intuition
  • Italian: presentimento — strong intuition
  • Italian: presagio — strong intuition
  • Italian: predizione — strong intuition
  • Japanese: 予感 (yokan) — strong intuition
  • Korean: 예감 (yegam) — strong intuition
  • Macedonian: насету́вање (nasetúvanje) — strong intuition
  • Macedonian: пре́тчувство (prétčuvstvo) — strong intuition
  • Macedonian: у́сета (úseta) — strong intuition
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forutanelse — strong intuition
  • Polish: przeczucie — strong intuition
  • Portuguese: pressentimento — strong intuition
  • Russian: предчу́вствие (predčúvstvije) — strong intuition
  • Serbo-Croatian: пре̏досјећа̄ј — strong intuition
  • Serbo-Croatian: предосећај — strong intuition
  • Serbo-Croatian: слу́тња — strong intuition
  • Serbo-Croatian: prȅdosjećāj — strong intuition
  • Serbo-Croatian: predosećaj — strong intuition
  • Serbo-Croatian: slútnja — strong intuition
  • Spanish: presentimiento — strong intuition
  • Spanish: premonición — strong intuition
  • Swedish: föraning — strong intuition
  • Tagalog: salagimsim — strong intuition
  • Thai: ลางสังหรณ์ — strong intuition
  • Turkish: önsezi — strong intuition
Real reading context

premonition in complete knowledge articles