foreboding (n.)

late 14c., "a predilection, portent, omen," from fore- + verbal noun from bode. Meaning "sense of something bad about to happen" is from c. 1600. Old English equivalent form forebodung meant "prophecy." Related: Forebodingly.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to foreboding

bode (v.)

Old English bodian "proclaim, announce; announce beforehand, foretell," from boda "messenger," probably from Proto-Germanic *budon- (source also of Old Saxon gibod, German gebot, Old Norse boð), from PIE root *bheudh- "be aware, make aware."

With good or ill, "give a (good or bad) portent or promise," late 14c. As a shortened form of forebode "presage" (usually something evil), it dates from 1740. Related: Boded; boding.

forebode (v.)

"feel a secret premonition," especially of something evil, c. 1600, from fore- + bode. Transitive meaning "announce beforehand, presage," especially something undesirable, is from 1660s. Intransitive sense "to presage" is from 1711. Related: Foreboded; foreboding. Old English forebodian meant "to announce, declare."

fore-

*bheudh-

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Trends of foreboding

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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premonition

mid-15c., premunicion, premunition, "preliminary warning, previous notification or admonishment," from Anglo-French premunition (late 14c.), Old French premonicion, from Medieval Latin praemonitionem (nominative praemonitio) "a forewarning," noun of action from past-participle st

presentiment

"a direct, though vague, perception of a future event," 1714, from French presentiment (Modern French pressentiment), from pressentir "to have foreboding," from Latin praesentire "to sense or feel beforehand," from prae "before" (see pre-) + sentire "perceive, feel" (see sense (n

fateful

1710s, "prophetic," from fate (n.) + -ful. Meaning "of momentous consequences" is from c. 1800. Related: Fatefully. Sometimes used by 18c.-19c. poets as if it meant "having the power to kill," which usually belongs to fatal. The broad and diverging senses of fate (n.) also yielde

hap

good wishes," Old Irish cob "victory," Norwegian heppa "lucky, favorable, propitious," Old Church Slavonic kobu "fate, foreboding...

stern

Of looks, "grim, foreboding," late 14c....

anticipate

1530s, "to cause to happen sooner," a back-formation from anticipation, or else from Latin anticipatus, past participle of anticipare "take (care of) ahead of time," literally "taking into possession beforehand," from anti, an old form of ante "before" (from PIE root *ant- "front

promise

c. 1400, promisse, "a solemn pledge; a vow; a declaration in reference to the future made by one person to another, assuring the latter that the former will do, or not do, a specified act," from Old French promesse "promise, guarantee, assurance" (13c.) and directly from Latin pr

guess

c. 1300, gessen "to infer from observation, perceive, find out; form an opinion, judge, decide, discern; evaluate, estimate the number, importance, etc. of," perhaps from Scandinavian (compare Middle Danish gitse, getze "to guess," Old Norse geta "guess, get"), or from or influen

second-guess

by 1938, originally a baseball verb; see second (adj.) + guess (n.). The expression second guess originated in big league baseball. In baseball, a man making a play has time only for one thought on that particular play. He must make up his mind in a flash how he is going to make

calculate

1560s, "ascertain by computation, estimate by mathematical means," from Latin calculatus, past participle of calculare "to reckon, compute," from calculus (see calculus). It replaced earlier calculen (mid-14c.), from Old French calculer. The meaning "to plan, devise" is attested

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updated on September 28, 2017

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Dictionary entries near foreboding

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