presentiment

[pri-zen-tuh-muhnt]

noun

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

presentiment

/ prɪˈzɛntɪmənt /

noun

1. a sense of something about to happen; premonition

Other Word Forms

• presentimental adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of presentiment¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of presentiment¹

C18: from obsolete French, from pressentir to sense beforehand; see _pre- , _sentiment

Example Sentences

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

Read more on Los Angeles Times

By late 2016, the seeming permanence of her move is threatened by apocalyptic presentiments unleashed by election anxiety.

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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.”

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In ethos and in substance, Sessions had long harbored the presentiments of Trumpism.

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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.

Read more on The Guardian