Meanings
plural premonitions · alternative archaic præmonition
- A clairvoyant or clairaudient experience, such as a dream, which resonates with some event in the future.
Synonyms: vision
- A strong intuition that something is about to happen (usually something negative, but not exclusively).
The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly. A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind. Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 17Synonyms: bad feeling, foreboding, gut feeling, hunch, second sight
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA clairvoyant or clairaudient experience, such as a dream, which resonates with some event in the future.
nounA strong intuition that something is about to happen (usually something negative, but not exclusively).
More synonyms by meaning
nouna feeling of evil to come
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpraemonitus
- Ecclesiastical Latinpraemonitiōnem“a forewarning”
- Anglo-Normanpremunition
- Englishpremonition
First use appears c. 1533. From Anglo-Norman premunition, from Ecclesiastical Latin praemonitiōnem (“a forewarning”), form of praemonitiō, from Latin praemonitus, past participle of praemoneō, from prae (“before”) (English pre-) + moneō (“to warn”) (from which English monitor). Compare Germanic forewarning.
More words from Anglo-Norman, Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic رُؤْيَة, نُبُوءَة
- رُؤْيَة (ruʔya)clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- نُبُوءَة (nubūʔa)strong intuition
- حَدْس (ḥads)strong intuition
Bulgarian предчувствие, интуиция
- предчувствие (predčuvstvie)clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- интуиция (intuicija)strong intuition
Catalan premonició, pressentiment
- premonicióclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- pressentimentstrong intuition
- presagistrong intuition
- premonicióstrong intuition
Chinese Mandarin 預感 /预感
- 預感 /预感 (yùgǎn)strong intuition
Czech předtucha
- předtuchastrong intuition
Dutch voorgevoel
- voorgevoelstrong intuition
Esperanto antaŭsento
- antaŭsentostrong intuition
Finnish enneuni, enne
- enneuniclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- enneclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- ennakkoaavistusstrong intuition
- etiäinenstrong intuition
French prémonition, prémonition
- prémonitionclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- prémonitionstrong intuition
German Vorahnung
- Vorahnungstrong intuition
Greek προαίσθημα
- προαίσθημα (proaísthima)clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
Hindi अंतर्ज्ञान
- अंतर्ज्ञान (antarjñān)clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
Hungarian előérzet
- előérzetstrong intuition
Icelandic fyrirboði, viðvörun
- fyrirboðiclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- viðvörunclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
Indonesian pertanda, firasat
- pertandaclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- firasatstrong intuition
Italian premonizione, premonizione
- premonizioneclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- premonizionestrong intuition
- presentimentostrong intuition
- presagiostrong intuition
- predizionestrong intuition
Japanese 予感
- 予感 (yokan)strong intuition
Korean 예감
- 예감 (yegam)strong intuition
Latin praemonitus, praesāgium
- praemonitusclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- praesāgiumclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
Norwegian Bokmål syn, varsel
- synclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- varselclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- forutanelsestrong intuition
Polish przeczucie
- przeczuciestrong intuition
Portuguese premonição, pressentimento
- premoniçãoclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- pressentimentostrong intuition
Romanian premoniție
- premonițieclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
Russian предчу́вствие, предчу́вствие
- предчу́вствие (predčúvstvije)clairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- предчу́вствие (predčúvstvije)strong intuition
Spanish premonición, presentimiento
- premoniciónclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- presentimientostrong intuition
- premoniciónstrong intuition
Swedish varsel, förebud
- varselclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- förebudclairvoyant or clairaudient experience
- föraningstrong intuition
Tagalog salagimsim
- salagimsimstrong intuition
Thai ลางสังหรณ์
- ลางสังหรณ์strong intuition
Turkish önsezi
- önsezistrong intuition
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with premonition
Cite this entry
premonition. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/premonition
“premonition.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/premonition. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “premonition,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/premonition.
Source: premonition on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.