diviner

[dih-vahy-ner]

noun

1. a person who divines; soothsayer; prophet.

2. a person skilled in using a divining rod.

Word History and Origins

Origin of diviner¹

1300–50; divine + -er ¹; replacing Middle English divinour < Anglo-French < Late Latin dīvīnātor soothsayer, equivalent to Latin dīvīnā ( re ) to divine + -tor -tor

Example Sentences

In one nook you’ll see “Arachnomancy,” a deck of tarot cards printed with ink made from particulate matter that pays tribute to the spider diviners of Cameroon.

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Long and staff-like, a “diviner’s tool” used in Yoruba culture to advise individuals on what paths to take in the future, marks the beginning of the exhibition.

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There is also Augure, a diviner who can sense the future, and from the start the omens look forbidding for the newlyweds.

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Instead he painted a water diviner, a practice still used in parts of Australia where proponents believe they can find ground water with two metal rods or, as pictured in the mural, sticks.

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They include zeitgeist diviner Jane Fonda, 82, and her repeated arrests for climate change.

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