Misgives

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Fills someone with doubt, unease or a sense of foreboding about what might happen
2. Causes a person to feel apprehension or uncertainty, especially about an outcome or decision
3. Makes a person anxious and doubtful, as when a feeling of dread arises about a course of action

Etymology: "Misgives" is the third-person singular present form of "misgive," so the core history belongs to that verb. It is built from the prefix "mis-," meaning wrongly or badly, and "give," with the sense that a feeling is handed over to the mind. In Middle English, "give" could mean to suggest or to present an idea, so to misgive was to suggest something wrongly, filling the mind with doubt or apprehension. The verb's modern sense, to fill someone with unease or foreboding, grows directly from that older meaning. Where the word once carried a neutral idea into the mind, it now usually brings a bad feeling, which is why "my heart misgives me" still sounds like a warning. The form "misgives" simply shows the verb conjugated for "he," "she," or "it."

Synonyms: doubts, fears, dreads

Antonyms: trusts, believes