vaticination

English

Etymology

From vaticinate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vəˌtɪsɪˈneɪʃən/

Noun

vaticination (plural vaticinations)

1. Prediction, prophecy.
   • 1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume I, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 66:

     Yorick ſcarce ever heard this ſad vaticination of his deſtiny read over to him, but with a tear ſtealing from his eye, […]

   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

     […] for that honest gentleman, never the most susceptible of extraneous impressions, had just that moment parted from Meg Merrilies, and was too deeply wrapt up in pondering upon her vaticinations, to make any answer to Hazlewood's call.

   • 1836, [Ralph Waldo Emerson], “Discipline”, in Nature, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 56:

     Every surmise and vaticination of the mind is entitled to a certain respect, and we learn to prefer imperfect theories, and sentences, which contain glimpses of truth, to digested systems which have no one valuable suggestion.

   • 1858 May 29, The Launceston Examiner, Tasmania, page 6, column 2:

     The anonymous oracle, the author of this pamphlet, is an example of entertaining dullness. He has manufactured a very damp squib; he is a serious man in motley; and practical ideas occasionally drop in among his fantastic vaticinations.

   • 1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Archer had been wont to smile at these annual vaticinations of his mother's; but this year even he was obliged to acknowledge, as he listened to an enumeration of the changes, that the "trend" was visible.

   • c. 1949, Edward Shanks, The Sunday Times, London:

     […] [Nineteen Eighty-Four] breaks all records for gloomy vaticination […]

Related terms

• vaticinate
• vaticinatory

Anagrams

• inactivation

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vāticinātiōnem. By surface analysis, vaticiner +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.ti.si.na.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

vaticination f (plural vaticinations)

1. vaticination

Further reading

• “vaticination”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.