omen
oh muhn
- n a sign of something about to happen
he looked for an omen before going into battle - n a strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula; the economy is dominated by oil
- v indicate by signs
- For him, the decapitation of the mosque in Samarra was an omen of doom.
- Was it a bad omen? "I think this is a sign of Singapore in big trouble," worried one Internet commentator.
- The word auspice, meaning sign or omen, is telescoped from the Latin words avis, bird, and specere, to see.