Premonition

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌpriːməˈnɪʃən/

Definitions

1. A feeling or intuition that something will happen in the future, typically something bad or significant, before any evidence or information confirms it
2. A sense of foreboding or intuitive conviction that an event will occur in the future without rational basis or prior knowledge
3. An inexplicable feeling that portends a coming occurrence, often negative or momentous, arising before factual confirmation

Etymology: The word "premonition" is built from two Latin parts: "prae," meaning "before," and "moneō," meaning "to warn," the same root that gave English "monitor." Its basic sense is therefore literal forewarning, a warning given in advance of something happening. It reached English around 1533, arriving through Anglo-Norman "premunition," which descended from the Ecclesiastical Latin "praemonitiōnem," a term for a forewarning. English speakers would have recognized the warning-sense immediately, since the Latin roots spelled out the idea plainly. The modern meaning, a vague sense that something is about to happen with no evidence behind it, grew out of that literal warning. A warning normally rests on knowledge, so the shift to an intuition with no rational basis is the notable step: the word kept its sense of advance notice while losing any obvious source for the notice.

Synonyms: forewarning, intuition, presentiment, inkling, foreshadowing