different between forerunner vs omen

English

Etymology

From Middle English forrenner, foreriner. Calque of Latin praecursor (“one who runs before, a forerunner”). Equivalent to fore- +? runner and/or forerun +? -er.

Noun

forerunner (plural forerunners)

1. A runner at the front or ahead.
2. (sports) By extension, a non-competitor who leads out the competitors on to the circuit, or who runs/rides the course prior to competitor trials, usually testing or checking the way.
3. A precursor or harbinger, a warning ahead.
4. A forebear, an ancestor, a predecessor.

   Bakelite is a forerunner of today's plastics.

5. (philately) A postage stamp used in the time before a region or area issues stamps of its own.

Translations

References

• Middle English Dictionary

English

Etymology

From Latin ?men (“foreboding, omen”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???m?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?o?m?n/
• Rhymes: -??m?n

Noun

omen (plural omens)

1. Something which portends or is perceived to portend either a good or evil event or circumstance in the future, or which causes a foreboding; a portent or augury.
2. A thing of prophetic significance.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "omen": good, ill, bad, auspicious, evil, favorable, happy, lucky. The terms for a positive omen aren't used much negatively, and it's considered oxymoronic by some to use it positively.

Synonyms

• augury, auspice, forecast, foreshadowing, foretoken, forewarning, harbinger, herald, hint, indication, oracle, portent, prediction, presage, prophecy, sign, signal, token, warning; danger sign, straw in the wind, (hand)writing on the wall; see also Thesaurus:omen

Related terms

• ominous
• abomination

Translations

Verb

omen (third-person singular simple present omens, present participle omening, simple past and past participle omened)

1. (transitive) To be an omen of.
2. (intransitive) To divine or predict from omens.

Synonyms

• prognosticate, betoken, forecast, foretell, portend, foreshadow, bode, augur, prefigure, predict, auspicate, presage

See also

• augury
• foreboding
• portend
• portent
• stars are aligned

Further reading

• omen in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• omen in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Emon, Mone, NEMO, Nome, meno-, meon, mone, nemo, nome

Latin

Etymology

From Old Latin osmen, of uncertain ultimate origin. Ancient authors derived it from ?s (“mouth”). Recently it was by some referred to Proto-Indo-European *h?ew- (“to see, perceive”) (whence audi?) or to the source of Ancient Greek ?????? (oíomai, “I think, believe, suppose”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?o?.men/, [?o?m?n]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?o.men/, [???m?n]

Noun

?men n (genitive ?minis); third declension

1. an omen

   Synonym: ?r?culum

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Derived terms

• ?minor
• ?min?sus

Related terms

• praen?nti?

Descendants

• Dutch: omen
• English: omen
• German: Omen
• Norwegian:
  • Norwegian Bokmål: omen
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: omen

References

• omen in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• omen in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• omen in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• omen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
• omen in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin omen

Noun

omen n (definite singular omenet, indefinite plural omen or omener or omina, definite plural omena or omenene or ominaene)

1. an omen

References

• “omen” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Latin omen.

Noun

omen n (definite singular omenet, indefinite plural omen, definite plural omena)

1. an omen

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

omen m

1. definite singular of om

References

• “omen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Portuguese

Noun

omen m

1. Alternative form of ome