numen
Americannoun
noun
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(esp in ancient Roman religion) a deity or spirit presiding over a thing or place
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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.
This individual was an old Hollander, named Van Numen, who as a connoisseur in precious stones, was probably without his rival in Paris.
From Monsieur Lecoq by Gaboriau, Émile
When in their breasts th'impetuous Numen rowls, And with uncommon heaves swells their Diviner Souls.
From Discourse on Criticism and of Poetry (1707) From Poems On Several Occasions (1707) by Cobb, Samuel
Numen is so important a word in the Roman religion that it is necessary to be perfectly clear as to what was meant by it.
From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by Fowler, W. Warde
Erroris fugient nebulæ; fatique licebit Explorare vias, unumque per omnia Numen.
From Gustavus Vasa and other poems by Walker, William Sidney
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
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.
