Meanings
plural monitions
- A caution or warning.First known use 14th c.
He cherished the usual wise monitions, such as that one was not to make a fool of one's self and that one should not carry on one's technical experiments in public.
1889–1890, Henry James, The Tragic Muse […], volume (please specify the page), Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], published 7 June 1890, →OCLC2 more examples
For if the ſoul of man vvere emancipated by virtue, it vvould not need any regulation or monition, beſides that of its invvard Tribunal; vvhich becauſe ſin does uſurp upon, has ſome relief from thoſe extern adjuments.
1663, Edward Waterhous[e], chapter XIV, in Fortescutus Illustratus; or A Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Roycroft for Thomas Dicas […], →OCLC, page 214I heard something of it, however, and, young as I was, could not help wondering how men who carried the worst passions of life into their retreat, could imagine that retreat was a refuge from the erosions of their evil tempers, the monitions of conscience, and the accusations of God.
1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 191Synonyms: caution, exhortation, warning
- A legal notification of something.First known use 15th c.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA caution or warning.
More synonyms by meaning
nouncautionary advice about something imminent (especially imminent danger or other unpleasantness)
nouna summons issued after the filing of a libel or claim directing all parties concerned to show cause why the judgment asked for should not be granted
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmonitiō“warning, admonition”
- Middle Frenchmonicion
- Anglo-Normanmonicion
- Englishmonition
From Anglo-Norman monicion, Middle French monicion, and their source, Latin monitiō (“warning, admonition”).
More words from Anglo-Norman, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian предупреждение, поличба
- предупреждение (predupreždenie)caution or warning
- поличба (poličba)omen
Finnish varoitus
- varoituscaution or warning
German Mahnung
- Mahnungcaution or warning
Russian предупреждение, уведомление
- предупреждение (predupreždenije)caution or warning
- уведомление (uvedomlenije)legal notification
Cite this entry
monition. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monition
“monition.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monition. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “monition,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monition.
Source: monition on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.