noun
premonition
prem-uh-NISH-un/ˌpreməˈnɪʃn/
A strong feeling that something, especially something bad, is going to happen.
She has a sudden premonition that the trip will go wrong.
Etymology
“Before” and “warn” give the original sense of an advance warning or notification. In the selected sense, that warning is a strong feeling about what is coming, especially impending trouble.
In context
I felt a terrible premonition. I can’t tell you how it was, but I seemed to _know_ that Doss was going to do something dreadful.
More examples
- His premonition of disaster proved unfounded.
- A vague premonition kept her awake that night.
- He dismissed the uneasy feeling as a foolish premonition.
Forms
premonition · premonitions
premonitory adjective — suggesting that something is about to happen
Similar words
- intuition
- Broader; need not concern a future event or possible harm.
- foreboding
- Specifically suggests an uneasy expectation of trouble.