numen
Americannoun
noun
-
(esp in ancient Roman religion) a deity or spirit presiding over a thing or place
-
a guiding principle, force, or spirit
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of numen
1620–30; < Latin nūmen a nod, command, divine will or power, divinity; akin to nūtāre to nod the head in commanding or assent
Vocabulary lists containing numen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Over the door of his room was inscribed,—"Innocui vivite, Numen adest,—Live in innocence, for God is present."
From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by MacGillivray, William
With Bentley’s13 critical acumen230 Explore the haunts of evil’s Numen; And in the hundreds of Old Drury, Descant de legibus Naturæ14.
From No Abolition of Slavery Or the Universal Empire of Love, A poem by Boswell, James
They swear by the Styx, Di cujus jurare timent et fallere Numen.
From Theodicy Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil by Huggard, E.M.
"Nec metuis dubio Fortunæ stantis in orbe Numen, et exosæ verba superba deæ?"
From Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Turpin, Edna Henry Lee
If this address had been in verse, I might have called you, as Claudian calls Mercury, Numen commune, gemino faciens commercia mundo.
From The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 2 With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by Dryden, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
