Omen

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈəʊmən/

Definitions

1. An event or symbol seen as a precursor to what is likely to happen in the future
2. A prophetic occurrence that serves as an indication of future events or circumstances
3. A sign or phenomenon believed to foretell a future event or outcome

Etymology: The Romans believed that a sign from the gods could be read in the everyday world: a bird's flight, a sudden thunderclap, a stumble at the threshold. The Latin "ōmen" named these portents, and it carried a sense of foreboding as much as of good fortune. English took the word over from Latin, so a modern omen is still, at root, a warning or sign that something is about to happen. The idea that a sign can point forward in time is built into the word itself. Nothing in its history suggests the word once meant anything more concrete than the sign, so the forward-looking sense is the original one. A rain cloud or a black cat becomes an omen only because someone reads a future in it.

Synonyms: sign, portent, foreshadowing, augury, forewarning

Antonyms: certainty, fact, reality, conclusion, result