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clairvoyance

[klair-voi-uh ns]
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noun
  1. the supernatural power of seeing objects or actions removed in space or time from natural viewing.
  2. quick, intuitive knowledge of things and people; sagacity.
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Origin of clairvoyance

1840–50; < French, equivalent to clairvoy(ant) clairvoyant + -ance -ance

Synonyms

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2. intuition, penetration, discernment, vision.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for clairvoyance

Historical Examples

  • By a sort of clairvoyance, Roma could see the Baron in the midst of the scenes he had prearranged.

    The Eternal City

    Hall Caine

  • But these belong to the subject of apparitions rather than to that of clairvoyance.

    Clairvoyance

    Charles Webster Leadbeater

  • At the first glance he divined my interior trouble, and I hated him for his clairvoyance.

    Clarimonde

    Thophile Gautier

  • He had recourse to every superstition of sortilege, clairvoyance, presentiment, and dreams.

    Lost

    Edward Bellamy

  • Now, may it not be that this supplies a suggestion as to the cause of the phenomenon of clairvoyance?

    Real Ghost Stories

    William T. Stead

British Dictionary definitions for clairvoyance

clairvoyance

noun
  1. the alleged power of perceiving things beyond the natural range of the sensesSee also extrasensory perception
  2. keen intuitive understanding
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Word Origin

C19: from French: clear-seeing, from clair clear, from Latin clārus + voyance, from voir to see, from Latin vidēre
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for clairvoyance

n.

"paranormal gift of seeing things out of sight," 1837, from special use of French clairvoyance (Old French clerveans, 13c.) "quickness of understanding, sagacity, penetration," from clairvoyant (see clairvoyant). A secondary sense in French is the main sense in English.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
clairvoyance in Medicine

clairvoyance

(klâr-voi′əns)
n.
  1. The perception of objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.