Meaning & use
omen
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Meanings
nouncountable
An event or sign that people take to be a hint of good or bad fortune ahead.
Grammar: Countable and usually described as good or bad: a good omen, an ill omen.
Patterns
- an omen of something
- an omen for someone
- take something as an omen
The early snow was seen as an omen of a hard winter.
She took the rainbow as a good omen for her new job.
Villagers once treated a black cat crossing the road as a bad omen.
nouncountablefigurative
A hint of what is likely to happen based on present facts, not superstition.
Grammar: Often used in news writing with of: an omen of trouble ahead.
Patterns
- an omen of something
Falling sales were an omen of the company's troubles.
The unusually quiet streets were an omen of the coming storm.
Word forms
| plural | omens |
|---|
Common combinations
- a good omen
- The sunny morning felt like a good omen.
- a bad omen
- Losing the first game was a bad omen for the team.
- an ill omen
- Crows gathering overhead seemed an ill omen to the farmers.
- an omen of disaster
- The cracks in the dam were an omen of disaster.
- take as an omen
- He took the delay as an omen and stayed home.
- read the omens
- The priests read the omens before the battle.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sign
- Sign is the neutral everyday word, while omen suggests a mysterious or superstitious reading.
- portent
- Portent is more formal and usually points to something serious or ominous.
- harbinger
- Harbinger stresses something that arrives first and announces what will follow, often a person or thing.
- augury
- Augury is a formal word for a prediction or the practice of reading signs.
Word family
Commonly confused: omen or omit? omen or amen?
omen vs omit
Omit means to leave something out, which looks like omen but has a different origin and meaning.
omen vs amen
Amen is the word said at the end of a prayer and only sounds like omen.
Practice
The broken mirror on the morning of the exam felt like a bad ______ to her.
Choose one answer.
Omen means a sign of future events. Omit is a verb, amen is used in prayer, and item does not mean a sign of fortune.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “omen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.