presentiment

American  

[pri-zen-tuh-muhnt] / prɪˈzɛn tə mənt /

noun

1. a feeling or impression that something is about to happen, especially something evil; foreboding.

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presentiment British  

/ prɪˈzɛntɪmənt /

noun

1. a sense of something about to happen; premonition

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Other Word Forms

• presentimental adjective

Etymology

Origin of presentiment

1705–15; < French, now obsolete spelling of pressentiment. See pre-, sentiment

Example Sentences

It’s the type of hazards and presentiment that feel inherent to womanhood.

From Los Angeles Times

Mrs. Hubble shook her head, and contemplating me with a mournful presentiment that I should come to no good, asked, “Why is it that the young are never grateful?”

From Literature

I never laughed at presentiments in my life, because I have had strange ones of my own.

From Literature

Writing later of the bizarre extravaganza that took place that summer, de Coubertin said: “I had a sort of presentiment that the Olympiad would match the mediocrity of the town.”

From Seattle Times

Though it got pretty bad reviews at the time, it now looks like a presentiment of the trauma launched on New York on 9/11.

From The Guardian