premonition
Americannoun
-
premonitions
plural
-
a feeling of anticipation of or anxiety over a future event; presentiment.
He had a vague premonition of danger.
- Synonyms:
- sign, omen, portent, foreboding
-
a forewarning.
noun
-
an intuition of a future, usually unwelcome, occurrence; foreboding
-
an early warning of a future event; forewarning
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of premonition
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English premunicioun, from Late Latin praemonitiōn-, stem of praemonitiō “a forewarning”; equivalent to pre- + monition; also cf. praemunire
Explanation
A premonition is a strong feeling or sense of foreboding that something is about to happen — such as an eerie feeling on a seemingly calm day that a storm is coming. The noun premonition literally means "an advance warning," derived from the Latin prefix prae-, meaning "before" or "in advance," and the Latin verb monere, "to warn or advise." However, a premonition is not a literal advance warning, like a letter in the mail that says, "Don't come visit next week because the electricity will be out," or a sign on a path that says, "Warning! Danger! Keep out!" It's more of a feeling, a hunch, or perhaps a dream, that signals a future event.
Vocabulary lists containing premonition
The Outsiders
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Power Prefix: pre-
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Metamorphosis
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Oddly, that cigar turned out to be an unwitting premonition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
He had a premonition that history would repeat itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2025
The first part of Mulder's premonition has proven to be true - Hayen's Brugge beat Villa, Sporting and Sturm Graz in the group phase, as well as drawing with Juventus and Celtic.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2025
Our former faith in manifest destiny always included another possibility; let’s call it a premonition of manifest doom.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025
I twisted the time around, personalized it into two and a half hours left for Fang to make good on my premonition.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
He said he had no premonitions that things were about to go haywire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
His mostly unpublished premonitions were eerily prescient: Among others, he famously intuited the existence of the neutron from prior experiments.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 20, 2023
But his pleas fell on deaf ears, and his premonitions would come true.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2023
But she also gradually punctures those upbeat vibes with tremulous notes of vulnerability and premonitions of disaster, right around the time her Barbie notices a patch of cellulite and begins having incongruous thoughts of death.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2023
This was the first part of the pageant The second part began with nearer premonitions on the trumpets.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
