vaticination

V4A1T1I1C3I1N1A1T1I1O1N1
/vəˌtɪsɪˈneɪʃən/

noun

Prediction, prophecy.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

nounvaticination (plural vaticinations)

plural vaticinations

  1. Prediction, prophecy.

    […][Nineteen Eighty-Four] breaks all records for gloomy vaticination[…]

    c. 1949, Edward Shanks, The Sunday Times, London
    5 more examples

    Yorick ſcarce ever heard this ſad vaticination of his deſtiny read over to him, but with a tear ſtealing from his eye, […]

    1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume I, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 66

    […]for that honest gentleman, never the most susceptible of extraneous impressions, had just that moment parted from Meg Merrilies, and was too deeply wrapt up in pondering upon her vaticinations, to make any answer to Hazlewood's call.

    1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

    Every surmise and vaticination of the mind is entitled to a certain respect, and we learn to prefer imperfect theories, and sentences, which contain glimpses of truth, to digested systems which have no one valuable suggestion.

    1836, [Ralph Waldo Emerson], “Discipline”, in Nature, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 56

    The anonymous oracle, the author of this pamphlet, is an example of entertaining dullness. He has manufactured a very damp squib; he is a serious man in motley; and practical ideas occasionally drop in among his fantastic vaticinations.

    1858 May 29, The Launceston Examiner, Tasmania, page 6, column 2

    Archer had been wont to smile at these annual vaticinations of his mother's; but this year even he was obliged to acknowledge, as he listened to an enumeration of the changes, that the "trend" was visible.

    1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

nounknowledge of the future (usually said to be obtained from a divine source)

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

vaticination. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vaticination

MLA

“vaticination.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vaticination. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vaticination,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vaticination.

Source: vaticination on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.